Stolt Valor captain, crew members return home

The Indian crew members of the MT Stolt Valor, hijacked by Somali pirates two months ago, returned to Delhi early Tuesday with Captain Prabhat Kumar Goyal expressing relief that the "nightmare" was finally over.
The crew members reached the international airport here from Muscat at around 4 a.m. Five of the 18 Indians had reached Mumbai Monday.
“The experience was very bad. They tortured us mentally. But, at the end, we are happy to be back safe. I wish to extend my sincere thanks and gratitude to everyone," an emotional and tired Goyal told reporters here.
“It was not only an ordeal but also a nightmare for all of us on board the Stolt Valor,” he said.
It was an emotional reunion as family members of the crew members hugged each other with tears rolling down their eyes.
“I am really happy that all the members have returned home safely. I thank god for it. But I will never be able to forget these two months,” an ecstatic Seema Goyal, wife of Capt Prabhat Goyal, said.
Seema had been shell-shocked when her husband informed her over the satellite phone that his ship had been hijacked. She had left no stone unturned to contact the prime minister, the defence minister, external affairs minister as well as the shipping company that employed her husband.
Ayushi Goyal, their 11-year-old daughter, ran to greet her father the moment crew reached the airport lounge.
All of them expressed gratitude to the Indian government and the Indian Navy.
MT Stolt Valor, with 22 crewmembers including 18 Indians, was hijacked by a group of Somali pirates off the Yemen coast Sep 15 while it was bound for Mumbai from the Suez Canal.
The pirates took the Japanese-owned vessel to the Somali coast and demanded a ransom of $6 million. They released the ship Nov 16 after reportedly collecting $2.5 million from the ship's owners. The cargo vessel was managed by Fleet Marine Management Service Ltd, Mumbai.

What makes India immune to US meltdown?

The collapse of the mighty global financial system has triggered a series of chain reactions in India, but the impact is not going to be as widespread as earlier imagined. The reasons are numerous.First, the subsidiaries of collapsed investment banks like Lehman are being bailed out by entities like Nomura of Japan. This includes the 2,500-strong back office operations in Mumbai, apart from the smaller securities set up. Similarly, American Insurance Group (AIG) in India has a tie-up with the ever reliable Tatas who have given a thumbs up to all consumers who were worried about their insurance carried out through this vehicle.Second, and even more significant, is the fact that the conservative approach to reforms in the financial services sector has ensured that the tremors of earthquakes in the US are being felt minimally in India.A meeting few days ago of the regulators for the pension, insurance and other similar sectors concluded with a sigh of relief and pronouncement that slow and steady opening up of the economy has helped in the long run. This is not to say that capital account convertibility - or making the rupee freely tradable - will not take place. But probably as the regulators have pointed out, this can happen when the economy is at a more mature stage.Infy, Wipro, TCS at lossUltimately, therefore, the big losers in the global financial crisis in this country are likely to be the iconic software firms like Infosys, Wipro and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). Much of their business comes from the erstwhile giant investment banks and that could affect their profitability in the short term. In the medium-to-long term, however, these companies are likely to have greater resilience given their innovative approach in the past to hunting out new markets and customers.The other area where worries still remain is the pullout of funds by foreign institutional investors from the country's equities and debt markets. The bourses have been showing considerable volatility ever since the news came in about the failure of Lehman and the domino-like effect on other investment banks.Safety nets by Goldman, MorganWhile the Indian stock markets became volatile, they have not crashed as might have been expected initially. They now seem to be stabilizing as safety nets are being created for collapsed banks, like converting Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan into commercial banks while other banks are picking up some entities cheap like the takeover of Wachovia by Wells Fargo.As far as the US and even Europe are concerned, the ramifications appear to be unending as the scenario is unfolding into the biggest banking crisis in 100 years. Financial institutions considered to have a rock-like stability including Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan and the Lehman Brothers collapsed within days of each.Some were rescued through various manoeuvres and only Lehman actually declared bankruptcy. Reports reaching here also indicate that many smaller banks are declaring insolvency in the US - a development not being taken note of by the international media which is focusing on the big fish. Thus average people in the US are facing severe hardship. No wonder then the battle is being described as one of Main Street vs Wall Street.Mortgage giants bailed outThe complex set of circumstances that created the crisis are a fascinating story of greed and over-reach at the highest level of the financial system in the US. The solutions being found are even more fascinating - at least in India. The US administration actually bailed out mortgage giants like Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae and the world's biggest insurance company, AIG. The bailout has resulted in the government taking a majority stake in these institutions including an 80 percent equity share in AIG. In other words, the US is doing what we in India call nationalisation.The irony has not been lost on those in the banking industry in this country. Former prime minister Indira Gandhi was roundly condemned by the US and other Western powers when she nationalised banks in this country in order to ensure that credit reached the poor and powerless. Deemed to be a socialist - or communist-like measure -, it has now been adopted without any qualms by the avowed world leader of free market economies. It seems the US government had little choice, as otherwise widespread mayhem may have resulted for the average citizen both within America and abroad.AIG collapse could trigger havocIn the case of AIG especially, it was recognized that the sudden collapse of the largest insurer in the world would wreak havoc globally. Besides the timing of these events could not have been worse for the Bush administration as the presidential elections are just weeks away. It thus had little option but to carry out damage control as rapidly as possible.Clearly the rules of the game change for Western economies during crisis. Nationalisation can be resorted to when the American people need to be protected but the same measure can be decried when a developing economy needs to do so to similarly protect its far more impoverished citizenry.The nationalization of banks in India opened the way for ordinary people to use the financial system for small and tiny deposits. It paved the way for what is known as compulsory priority sector lending. In other words, banks had to provide a certain amount of credit for agriculture and rural areas. In the normal course, commercial banks only lend to sectors providing assured and fairly high returns. But Indian nationalised banks have a social obligation to fulfil and the directive to do so was made possible only by the drastic takeovers effected by Indira Gandhi in 1969.Apart from banks, many other industries had to be nationalized to prevent millions of workers from becoming jobless. The perennially loss-making National Textile Corp is one such case when the government had to step in as private mill owners were closing shop and leaving their workers in the lurch. Though the corporation and its regional subsidiaries have rarely made profits, the mills under its charge have also performed a social obligation by producing cheap cloth meant for weaker sections of society. No doubt the nationalization process was carried too far, but at the time it seemed the only way out to save jobs in a country without any social safety nets for the jobless.So there can be few tears shed in India for the plight of the US economy. Our focus should only be on how to deal with the fallout of the financial disaster that has overtaken the global bastion of free markets.

Aloe Vera

The Verdeja was a series of light tanks developed in Spain between 1938 and 1954 in an attempt to replace German Panzer I and Soviet T-26 tanks in Spanish service. The program was headed by Captain Félix Verdeja Bardales and led to the development of four prototype vehicles, including a self-propelled howitzer armed with a 75 mm gun. It was designed as an advanced light tank and was one of the first development programs which took into account survivability of the crew as opposed to the protection of the tank. The tank was influenced by several of the light tanks which it was intended to replace, including the Panzer I and T-26, both of which were originally used during the Spanish Civil War. The Verdeja was considered a superior tank to the T-26 after a lengthy testing period, yet was never put into mass production. Three light tank prototypes were manufactured between 1938 and 1942, including the Verdeja 1 and the Verdeja 2. Interest in the vehicle's development waned after the end of the Second World War. Despite attempts to fit a new engine in the Verdeja 2 and convert the Verdeja 1 into a self-propelled artillery piece, ultimately the program was unofficially canceled in favor of adopting the US M47 Patton Tank in 1954. A prototype of the 75 millimetre self-propelled howitzer and of the Verdeja 2 were put on display in the early 1990s.
Spain received its first tank in mid-1919, a French Renault FT-17 for testing purposes, and later received ten more tanks on 18 December 1921.[6] The use of these tanks during the Rif War, including the first amphibious landing with tanks,[7] offered valuable experience for Spain's first indigenous armor program, the Trubia A4. The Trubia tank program, based on the FT-17, led to the development of four prototypes, but ultimately the program failed due to lack of interest from the national government.[8] These prototypes influenced a subsequent indigenous attempt to produce a tank, named the Trubia-Naval.[9] This design also failed to get past the prototype type stage.[10] Due to the failure of Spanish efforts to produce a tank, and the ineffective attempts to procure foreign designs such as the Italian Fiat 3000,[11] by the start of the Spanish Civil War there were only ten working FT-17 light tanks available in the country.[12]
The lack of armor prompted the Soviet Union to supply the Popular Front and Nazi Germany and Italy to supply the Nationalist Front with light tanks. Between 1936 and 1939, the Germans provided the Nationalists with 122 Panzer Is[13] and the Italians 155 L-3-35s.[14] Meanwhile, the Soviets issued Republican Spain 281 T-26s and 50 BT-5s.[15] The Nationalists quickly found out the light machine guns on their tanks could not penetrate the T-26's armor at over 150 metres (160 yd), and Republican tankers could routinely knock out Pz Is and L-3-35s at ranges of up to 1,000 metres (1,100 yd).[16] In order to re-equip Nationalist armored forces with the T-26, German Major Ritter von Thoma offered Spanish troops 500 pesetas for each tank captured.[17] There were also attempts to up-gun the Panzer I with an Italian Breda 20mm Model 1935 anti-aircraft gun, due to its high velocity and low recoil. Despite four successfully converted vehicles, designated Pz I Breda, there was no widespread program to retrofit the gun into the Pz I.[18] Instead, the Nationalists began to press captured T-26s into service against their previous owners, with the first Nationalist T-26 unit formed in June 1937.[19]
On 6 September 1937, Captain Félix Verdeja, commanding the maintenance company of the Nationalist Batallón de Carros de Combate ("Tank Battalion"), began to privately develop a new light tank. His position, with direct access to Pz Is and T-26s, gave Verdeja direct evidence of the shortcomings of current tank models in terms of combat ability and maintenance issues. Verdeja established a future tank required the 45mm (1.77 in) gun fitted in the T-26; two coaxial light machine guns; a low profile, all-around armor greater than 15 mm (0.6 in), with a turret mantlet plate of at least 30 mm (1.2 in); road speed of 70 kilometres per hour (43 mph), combat range of 200 kilometres (120 mi), and a capable suspension and new track system. This latter requirement was based on experiences with existing light tanks, which frequently lost their tracks in combat. These requirements and solutions were presented in October 1938 to Colonel Díaz de la Lastra, commanding officer of the Agrupación de Carros de Combate. Although the project was approved, the program had to use scrap to build the first prototype due to a lack of resources and money.[20] Despite early obstacles, including criticism from von Thoma, the program continued and Verdeja was awarded a warehouse in Zaragoza to continue with the construction of the prototype. [21]

The Verdeja was heavily influenced by the T-26.
The prototype was manufactured from spare parts and equipment scavenged from other light tanks, and featured a rectangular turret with 16 mm (0.63 in) basic armor. The chassis was divided into four quarters, with the forward right half occupied by the engine, gear box, clutch and final drive, beside the driver. The rear half of the vehicle was taken up mostly by the turret basket and forty-six 45mm rounds, as well as two 60 liter (13 Imp gal) fuel tanks.[22] Turret space was used by the tank commander-gunner and the loader, as well as the 45mm model 1932 anti-tank gun and two MG-13 machine guns. The main gun was originally commissioned as the Soviet 45mm 19K anti-tank gun in March 1932, and featured heavier ammunition and a faster rate of fire than older anti-tank guns. Starting in 1934, a newer model began to be fitted into newly assembled T-26s.[23] Apart from the gun, the tank commander's model 1932 panoramic periscope was also scavenged from a T-26. The vehicle was powered by a Ford Model 48 engine taken from a civilian automobile, displacing 3,622 cc (221in3) and producing 85 hp (63 kW) at 2,000 revolutions per minute. The engine was paired with a brand-new radiator and exhaust system. The Verdeja prototype used the Panzer I's Aphon PG-31 gearbox, although this worked at excessive revolutions for the engine, offering less torque which made slopes greater than 40º difficult. Possibly the most unusual features of the Verdeja were the suspension and tracks. To prevent the tank's tracks slipping off the roadwheels, two track pieces were fitted together to create a central groove for the roadwheel to travel in.[24] With a weight of under 5 tonnes (5.5 short tons) the Verdeja had a maximum velocity of 70 kilometres per hour (43 mph) and a combat radius of 120 kilometres (75 mi).[25] Following the prototype's success in testing between 10 January and 20 January 1939, Captain Verdeja was ordered to begin construction of the definitive model of the light tank.

Verdeja 1
The appearance of the resulting Verdeja 1 prototype was close to that originally envisioned in Captain Verdeja's first designs. The vehicle's hull was elongated and the rear plate sloped, while the fuel capacity, and thus combat range, ammunition capacity, and base armor thickness were all increased. The vehicle was fabricated in Bilbao, the only city in Spain with a heavy vehicle assembly line. Due to the end of the Spanish Civil War and a shortage of funds, construction was postponed until May 1940. The prototype was completed three months later and delivered to the proving grounds in Carabanchel, Madrid.[26] A major external difference between the previous model and this prototype was the new, low-profile turret which allowed the 45mm gun to depress and elevate from 8º to 70º. The original 45 mm model 1932 gun was exchanged with a new 45mm Mark I tank gun fabricated by S.A. Placencia de las Armas, in Spain. Suspension and tracks were unchanged. In essence, the majority of the advantages of the new prototype were relevant to its low-profile, high elevation of the main gun and the increased sloping of the armor from 12º to 45º.[27] It should be noted that the Verdeja 1 retained the original configuration by placing the engine in the front, to increase crew survivability.[28]
On arrival at Carabanchel, the vehicle was tested against the T-26 in mobility over different terrain types and in firepower. The vehicles were graded based upon a five-point scale for each test, which would be multiplied by a coefficient of importance for each test.[29] During the testing the Verdeja traveled for some 500 kilometre without any maintenance problems, the only issue being the large consumption of water by the gasoline engine, due to the lack of an efficient radiator, and the loss of a rubber liner of one of the roadwheels. It was found that the maximum velocity of the Verdeja was either on par with similar vehicles in foreign service or superior, while the Verdeja proved itself capable of going over trenches almost 2 m wide and climbing slopes of 40º. In regards of firepower, it was proved that the vehicle could withstand the recoil of the 45 millimetre high-velocity tank gun. One of the vehicle's disadvantages was that the tank commander's aiming device was designed for a 37 millimetre anti-tank cannon, adapted into the Verdeja due to the lack of time to manufacture one for the 45 millimetre Mark I. Testing concluded with the Verdeja receiving a total of 243 points, compared to the 205 points awarded to the T-26B.[30] Testing completed, the prototype was returned and several problems were fixed, including engine deficiencies, the elevation of the sprocket and an increase to 10 millimetre of armor on all areas that had less. These changes made, the Verdeja returned to testing, this time scoring 261.98 points.[31]

The Panzer I heavily influenced the Verdeja's turret design
Plans to produce one thousand Verdeja tanks were approved on 2 December 1940, divided into ten batches of one hundred tanks each. The Verdeja production prototype was to adopt the 120 horsepower (89 kW) Lincoln-Zephyr gasoline V12 engine, requiring a contract between the Spanish government and Ford Motor Ibérica, Ford's Spanish subsidiary. Simultaneously, in case of failure of talks between Ford and Spain, the government also began to contact a number of German companies, including Maybach. In order to begin production, the Tank Workshop in Zaragoza was to be expanded to allow final assembly of at least five tanks per month. Despite funding and two years of construction alloted, the factory construction and expansion was never completed. Other problems arose, including the failure reach agreement wtih ford or Maybach. These factors, the poor economic situation in Spain, the lack of clients other than the Spanish Army and the lack of incentives for Spanish companies to partake in the construction program, led to the abandonment of the attempt to fabricate the Verdeja 1. Another attempt was undertaken at contracting the company ADESA (Armamento de Aviación, S.A.) to manufacture two Verdeja light tanks for experimental purposes. Despite the failure to procure an engine, ADESA offered to construct 300 units, but these attempts concluded fruitlessly and the program was abandoned by 1941.[32]

Verdeja 2
As the Verdeja 1 program dissolved, Captain Verdeja began to design a successor, taking into consideration lessons learned during the opening campaigns of the Second World War. The new design featured a reorganized engine bay at the rear of the chassis, which allowed for better cooling of the vehicle's motor and the fighting compartment, as well as allowing the turret to be moved forward. In addition, the drive sprocket moved to the rear. The vehicle's armor was also increased by between five and ten millimetres (0.2-0.4").[33] This new tank was not approved for production or further development due to continued postponement of the production of the Verdeja 1 for reasons which included offers by the German government to supply the Panzer IV's engine for the Verdeja 1. Although production of the new vehicle finally began in 1942, it was not until August 1944 that the Verdeja 2 prototype was delivered.[34] The program was delayed by the incorporation of twenty Panzer IV Ausf. H's and ten Sturmgeschütz IIIs into the Spanish Army in late 1943,[35] as well as failed attempts to procure one hundred more Pz IVs and even Panthers and Tigers during 1944.[36] With these new vehicles integrated into the army and the fiscal problems which plagued the Verdeja 1, the Verdeja 2 remained relatively untouched until 1950, when there was an attempt to fit a Pegaso Z-202 engine.[37] Despite this, the Verdeja remained on factory grounds until 1973, when it was transferred to the Infantry Academy of Toledo.[38]

Comparative data
The Verdeja series compared to the T-26 and Panzer I
Verdeja 1
Verdeja 2
Verdeja 75 mm
T-26B[39]
Panzer I Ausf. B[40]
Weight
6.5 t (7.16 tons)
10.9 t (12.01 tons)
6.5 t (7.16 tons)
9.4 t (10.36 tons)
5.4 t (5.95 tons)
Gun
45 mm cannon (1.77 inches)
45 mm cannon
75 mm howitzer (2.95 in)
45 mm cannon
7.92 mm machine gun (0.312 in)
Ammunition
72 rounds
146 rounds
32 rounds
122 rounds
2,250 rounds
Road range
220 km (136 miles)
220 km
220 km
175 km (108.74 mi)
200 km (124.27 mi)
Maximum velocity
44 km/h (27.34 mph)
46 km/h (28.58 mph)
44 km/h (27.35 mph)
31.1 km/h (19.32 mph)
50 km/h (31.07 mph)
Armor
7–25 mm (.28–.98 in)
10–40 mm (.39–1.57 in)
7–25 mm (.28–.98 in)
7–16 mm (.28–.63 in)
7–13 mm (.28–.51 in)

Self-propelled howitzer
Between the late 1940s and early 1950s there were a number of programs in Spain to develop a self-propelled howitzer based on an existing chassis. For example, during the early 1950s Spanish engineers attempted to retrofit a R-43 105mm (4.1 in) L/26 howitzer into a StuG III. This required reconstruction of the turret's casemate, in a fashion similar to the Verdeja 75mm self-propelled howitzer. Although one vehicle began conversion, the program was never finalized. There were similar programs to fit an 88mm L/56 and a 122mm L/46 howitzer thereafter, but these did not advance beyond the planning stage, either.[41] One of the most successful programs was the attempt to produce a 75mm self-propelled howitzer based on the chassis of the Verdeja 1 prototype. Beginning in 1945, [42] now-Major Verdeja was ordered to begin designing this piece using a rapid-firing 75mm L/40 howitzer designed by Sociedad Española de Construcción Naval.[43] The availability of the required parts and the lack of complicated changes meant that the vehicle was quickly prepared and tested extensively. The fate of the self-propelled piece was much the same as that of the Verdeja 2, and the vehicle was left untouched at the proving grounds in Carabanchel until 1973, when it was moved to the Spanish base Alfonso XIII, housing the then Mechanized Infantry Regiment Wad Rass nº 55. It was soon moved to another base, and finally delivered to the base of El Goloso, outside of Madrid, as a part of an armored vehicles museum.[44]

The Verdeja 75 mm Self-Propelled Howitzer, with the gun system visible
Major changes to the original Verdeja 1 included removing the turret and replacing it with a gun shield with 10 millimetre thick steel armor. This meant that much of the chassis' roof and rear wall was eliminated. The howitzer was designed as a monoblock steel tube, using a double-baffle muzzle brake, with twelve twists completing a full turn every forty calibers. As mounted, the howitzer could fire between .5º and 25º, and move 4.5º either left or right. The crew could stow eight pieces of ammunition in a ready-round stowage area near the walls of the gun shield on each side of the breech, allowing easy access to projectiles. Otherwise, the vehicle could store another 24 rounds in an auxiliary carriage. The carriage was based on the axles and wheels of a PaK 36 anti-tank gun. A unique feature of this prototype was a mechanical brake built into the idler wheel to the rear of the chassis, guaranteeing the vehicle's stability when firing and avoiding damage to the transmission.[45]

Conclusions
Ultimately the Verdeja program's end came with the arrival of military equipment from the United States, beginning in 1953. From 1954, the Spanish Army received 389 M47 Patton tanks, replacing the T-26s, Panzer Is, and Panzer IVs then in service.[46] The Verdeja had become obsolete when compared to larger, relatively more potent tanks such as the German Panther, the Soviet T-54, and the US M47. The T-54 had 200 millimetre of steel armor on the turret mantlet, far greater than the Verdeja 2's maximum armor thickness of 40 mm.[47] The Soviet 45mm Model 1932 gun was replaced by the T-34's 76.2mm gun, while the Germans adopted the 75mm L/70 in the Panther. By 1950, Soviet tanks such as the T-54 were armed with the 100mm D-10T, and American tanks adopted a 90mm. Although the Verdeja was Spain's most successful indigenous design,[48] it was outclassed as foreign tank producing countries produced superior products. Furthermore, the need for self-propelled artillery was soon eliminated as the United States offered Spain M37 and M44 self-propelled howitzers.[49] As a result, interest in the Verdeja dried up after 1954. Spain would not attempt another indigenous tank until the advent of the Lince main battle tank in the late 1980s.

I won't contest elections: Raj Thackeray

Amravati: Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray has said that his party would contest all the 48 Lok Sabha seats in the state, but he would not be one of the candidates.
"Due to the kind of family environment I have come from, I believe in giving leadership and not in contesting polls. So, it is very much clear that I will not fight any election. But, MNS will definitely contest coming Lok Sabha elections," Raj, who is touring Vidarbha, said at a press conference in Amravati on Monday.
Police ask Raj Thackeray aides to leave Mumbai
"We are raising various issues but changes we want in the state cannot be done without power," he said.
On whether he would forge an alliance with any party, the youth leader asked if there was any political outfit ready to join hands with him.
"MNS will contest polls on its own."
Sonali Bendre defends Jaya Bachchan
”MNS has given exposure to the emotions of every Marathi manoos. The Jaya Bachchan episode is now closed, but hereafter nobody will dare to 'insult' Maharashtra,” he said.
"I am against people coming to Maharashtra from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, their aggression on our culture and socio-political life. They are causing loss to our culture and increasing the problem of unemployment," the MNS chief said.
Raj barred from addressing public rallies

Delhi serial blasts: Suspected aide of militants held

A suspected aide of the militants allegedly involved in the serial blasts here was taken into custody while he was giving an interview to a news channel.
Zeeshan, believed to be an aide of Atif who is alleged to have played a "key role" in the recent Delhi blasts, was taken into custody from the studio of a news channel on Friday night, a senior police official said.
"We had information that a person will be going to the studio to give an interview on behalf of the militants. We picked him up from the TV studio for interrogation," the official said.
Asked whether Zeeshan was one of the two militants who escaped from Friday's encounter site, the official refused to provide details but said he could be one of those who arranged logistics like a house or car or other things.
Delhi Police had on Friday killed two militants, who allegedly had "crucial" links to the Delhi blasts, in a fierce gun battle in Jamia Nagar of south Delhi.
While one militant, Mohd Saif, was arrested, two others managed to escape from the scene.

Massive particle collider passes first key tests

Geneva: The world's largest particle collider passed its first major tests by firing two beams of protons in opposite directions around a 17-mile (27-kilometer) underground ring on Wednesday in what scientists hope is the next great step to understanding the makeup of the universe.
After a series of trial runs, two white dots flashed on a computer screen at 10:26 am (0826 GMT) indicating that the protons had travelled clockwise along the full length of the 4 billion Swiss franc (US$3.8 billion) Large Hadron Collider — described as the biggest physics experiment in history.
Graphic: All about the test

Paris has a restaurant named 'Gandhiji'

New Delhi:Indian megastar Amitabh Bachchan noticed something very interesting on his last visit to Paris - a restaurant named Gandhiji!
"Hordes of Gujaratis living here are running restaurants - one, oddly named 'Gandhiji'! But 'Gandhiji'? Oh, brother! Try opening an eatery in India with that name," Amitabh posted on his blog www.bigb.bigadda.com.
For more news, analysis For more Science and Medicine news
Amitabh enjoyed his trip to Paris where he shot for fashion and lifestyle magazine L'Officiel.
Another observation he made was that "the French everywhere seem extremely hospitable, more friendly and polite than their alleged bad temperament from earlier years, to tourists and visitors."
"There is a certain strength in being Indian and being identified with India. And there is a greater acceptance when one mentions nationality," he added.
For more International news For more Political news For more Offbeat news

Singur imbroglio resolved, Trinamool withdraws stir

The deadlock following the farmers' agitation against Tata Motors' Nano small car project in Sigur was resolved late Sunday night as the West Bengal government agreed to form a committee to look into the demand and the Opposition Trinamool Congress suspended its campaign against it.
End to Singur issue runs into problem
Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi, who mediated the talks between the Left Front government and the Trinamool, told reporters after several rounds of talks and some twists that the imbroglio had been resolved.
The state government would form a committee within a week to look into the affected farmers' demands and till then the construction of the ancillary units - the bone of contention – would be on hold, said Gandhi, with Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Trinamool leader Mamata Banerjee at his side.
Full coverage: Farmers vs SEZ
Mamata said her party would suspend the agitation at the Tata Motors plant in Singur, about 40 km from here.
The government had taken a decision to provide land to the affected farmers, Gandhi said.

Chris Martin credits sewing for Coldplay's spectacular success!

Hollywood studio Warner Bros are suing Indian producers in relation to a movie they believe infringes the copyright of the 'Harry Potter' franchise.
The Warner Bros have filed a lawsuit against Mumbai-based studio Mirchi Movies, who are set to release a film entitled 'Hari Puttar - A Comedy of Terrors'. Releasing Sept 12, the film follows the life of a 10-year-old Indian boy who moves to Britain, reports contactmusic.com.
Warner Bros believe the name is too similar to the title character of the hugely popular wizard franchise, whose latest film 'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince' has been pushed back for release until next year.
'We have recently commenced proceedings against parties involved in the production and distribution of a movie entitled 'Hari Puttar',' said a spokesperson for Warner Bros.
The spokesperson added: 'Warner Bros values and protects intellectual property rights. However, it is our policy not to discuss publicly the details of any ongoing litigation.'
But Mirchi Movies denies any copyright conflict.
'We registered the 'Hari Puttar' title in 2005, and it is unfortunate that Warner Bros has chosen to file a case so close to our film's release. In my opinion, I don't think our title has any similarity or links with 'Harry Potter',' said Munish Purii, chief executive officer, Mirchi Movies.
The case is listed for hearing in Bombay High Court Monday.

Brit puts honeymoon up for sale after fiancee dumps him!

A devastated Brit has put his honeymoon up for sale in a newsagent's window after his wife-to-be walked out on him weeks before their marriage.
Lee Leaver spent 2,000 pounds on a dream fortnight in the Dominican Republic but his fiancee called off their marriage after a blazing row.
Now, Lee is offering the all-inclusive trip for a knockdown 1,000 pounds.
"We had a massive barney and I've not seen her since. I'm gutted - but at least this way I can claw some of my money back," the Sun quoted Lee, as saying.
Lee had planned to exchange wedding vows with Ruth in a fairytale ceremony at Gretna Green after she popped the question.
The couple then planned two weeks of marital bliss from September 2 at a luxury spa hotel, where Lee booked the honeymoon suite.
However, after a series of rows he went home in Swinton, Greater Manchester, to find furious Ruth had torn up their photo album and called off the 14-month relationship.
He begged her to postpone the wedding and fly out to the Caribbean country so they could patch things up - but Ruth refused.
A pal of Ruth said: "She's upset and doesn't want Lee to know where she is." (ANI)
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India's day at the global Village

GETTING INSIDE the Games Village is a painstaking task. Screening, over-zealous volunteers following each step, security persons guarding the privacy of the sportspersons in the Village are some of the things that immediately strike you.
India's flag hoisting ceremony gave me the opportunity to visit the Village. From coffee shops to departmental stores, it had everything. I was so engrossed after entering the Village that I almost forgot about the ceremony. This is the only time - other than after winning a medal - when one gets to hear the National Anthem and see the Tricolour being hoisted at the Games. On Thursday, as the Indian flag was hoisted, the contingent was officially ushered into the Village by mayor Chen Zi Li.
'Underdog' Rathore honouredRajyavardhan Singh Rathore, who will be carrying the flag during the opening ceremony on Friday, finally broke his silence. "Being chosen as the flag-bearer in an Olympics is one of the greatest honours that has been bestowed upon me," he said.
Tagging himself as an underdog, Rathore said: "A lot of shooters have been doing well. For the last few months, I have not been doing as well as I would have liked. But I know what I need to do. It all comes down to that particular day."
Jitender living a dreamFlyweight boxer Jitender couldn't help but exclaim: "I am living a dream!" Representing his country at the Olympics for the first time, the 20-year-old pugilist never believed he would be at a Games Village some day.
Dinesh, another Olympic debutant, was over the moon too. He took pictures from every angle possible, so what if his bout is on Saturday. "Let me live the moment first," he said.
Two boxers who missed the ceremony were Akhil Kumar and Vijender. For an amateur, fighting the scales is as important as his favourite punch. The two were trying to reduce weight.

Lockheed Martin to invest $300,000 in IIT Delhi

New Delhi, Aug 6 (IANS) Recognising the excellence of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi, combat aircraft manufacturing giant Lockheed Martin has chosen it for a $300,000 project of collaborative research in bio- and nano-technology.
"We have already signed an agreement with the IIT Delhi. We are investing $300,000 for a collaborative project over a period of one year," Ray O. Johnson, senior vice president and chief technology officer of Lockheed Martin, said here Wednesday.
"This is the first such collaboration with any institute beyond the US and Europe. The IIT is an institute of recognised excellence across the globe in this field of bio- and nano-technology and after the successful completion of the project, we may have some follow up projects," Johnson told IANS.
He said Lockheed had been engaged in discussions with the IIT Delhi for nearly a year to "identify mutual areas of interest in technology collaboration and research".
With the broad spectrum of bio- and nano-technology, research will be carried out in the fields like nano-technology-enabled biological sensors, biodegradable nonmaterial for medical treatment and bio-filters for pollution detection.
"The partnership is an exciting prospect for advancing technology and establishing a long-term relationship with Lockheed Martin. We are surprised but happy about the collaboration," IIT Delhi director Surendra Prasad said in a select press meet.
When asked about the choice of of the IIT Delhi for the collaboration, Prasad said: "we are doing quite well in the field and they know the IIT Delhi is the best in India."
Eight professors from four departments of the institute and up to five experts from Lockheed will work together here to achieve success in the project and work out future collaboration.
Asked who will have the patent for the new products, molecules, Prasad said: "The intellectual property rights issues are yet to be finalised but no one can stop the IIT Delhi from publishing the research results."
Johnson said the objectives of the research partnership include "developing domain expertise in the nano-biological technologies for application to Lockheed Martin products, services, and adjacent market pursuits".
"It will also strive to achieve capabilities in modelling and simulation, virtual experimentation and conceptual designing of nano-biological systems," he added.
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1.3 million saplings planted in a day in Himachal

Shimla, Aug.5 (ANI): The Himachal Pradesh government recently launched a mass afforestation drive with at least one member of the aimed 1.3 million rural and urban families planting a medicinal or herbal sapling.
The major plantation drive was carried out on the weekend here that witnessed a record number of saplings being planted by public under the programme named "Jan-Jan- Sanjivni Van Abhiyan".
Most of the families planted herbal plants in the kitchen gardens or in the foreyard of their houses.
Himachal Pradesh chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, initiated the campaign by planting a sapling at his residence in Shimla and described the mass plantation drive as a multi-pronged programme.
"Every family of the State is being involved. Every family will plant a herbal plant provided by the Government. One plant will not be enough; it is for the inspiration of the people. People should grow maximum herbal plants. It will not only help to keep the environment clean but also on commercial basses it will generate revenue to the people," said Prem Kumar Dhumal, Chief Minister, Himachal Pradesh.
State forest minister J. P. Nadda termed the plantation drive as a public sensitizing and viable programme.
He contended that the people's participation was not so encouraging in the "Van Mohtosava" since it was limited to the Forest Department. As such the Conservator of Forests came forth with an idea to involve the classes and the masses people through this Jan-Jan- Sanjivni campaign.
"The Forest Department developed these plants in the nurseries. We developed approximately 24 lakh (2.4 million) plants and then we started this programme known as Jan-Jan- Sanjivni Van Abhiyan 2008," said J. P. Nadda, Minister of Forests in Himachal Pradesh.
" The objective was that we had some 57 species out of which 19 are of the kind which grown into trees and the rest are herbs and shrubs. We divided the whole State in three levels - the lower altitude, middle altitude and the higher altitude. We distributed the plants accordingly. For the last one-and-a-half months, the distribution part started. I am happy to say that we have crossed the 13-lakh (1.3 million) plant distribution," Nadda informed.
People have also hailed the plantation campaign. They believe that such programmes can be successful only if a proper feedback is compiled and monitored.
"The Government has to pay some attention. There is a need to take feedback and after studying the success of this campaign, the Government should distribute a plant to every individual of the State from next year, which will keep the environment clean and the dream of becoming a herbal state will also get fulfilled. The launching of such campaign by the Government is going to us benefit us definitely," observed Lekhraj, a local resident.
The Department of Forests will take feedback in October and according to the inputs and convenience of the people of the State, a policy will be formulated.
The Himachal Pradesh government has also signed an agreement with the Patanjali Yoga of popular Yoga Guru Baba Ramdev, it will buy the fruits, leaves and roots of these plants for medicinal purposes. By Hemant Chauhan (ANI)
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Obama unveils plan to end US 'oil addiction' by 2018

Lansing (Michigan, US): Barack Obama put forward a broad energy plan on Monday designed to end US reliance on imported oil within 10 years and shore up his standing amid a tightening White House race and high anxiety over gas prices.
Obama's proposal, though, includes two significant reversals of past positions: He had steadfastly fought the idea of limited new offshore drilling and had been against tapping the nation's emergency oil stockpile to relieve pump prices that have stubbornly hovered around $4 a gallon.
In a speech in Michigan, the Democratic Presidential nominee-in-waiting also endorsed long-term work on hybrid cars and renewable energy sources.
"Breaking our oil addiction is one of the greatest challenges our generation will ever face," the Illinois Democrat told a supportive audience as he began a week's focus on energy issues. "It will take nothing less than a complete transformation of our economy," he said.
Presumed Republican nominee Senator John McCain, speaking in Pennsylvania, again advocated more oil drilling off the US coast. "Anybody who says that we can achieve energy independence without using and increasing these existing energy resources either doesn't have the experience to understand the challenge that we face or isn't giving the American people some straight talk," he said.
Obama warns Pakistan against funding militants Obama's daughter gets $1 allowance a week Road to the White House: Full coverage
Obama and McCain are emphasising solutions to the country's energy woes as they seek an advantage in polling that shows the race competitive just weeks before their respective national nominating conventions and the final stretch of the campaign. The issue cuts across the diverse electorate, resonating with voters of all stripes, and it gives the candidates a way to talk both about domestic and foreign issues. High gas prices are pushing food and transportation costs higher, affecting consumers weathering a weak economy, while the country's dependence on foreign oil has emerged as a pivotal national security concern.
Obama, who as recently as last month argued against tapping the petroleum reserve, proposed that the government sell 70 million barrels of oil from the stockpile and said past release from the reserve have lowered gas prices within two weeks.
Explaining his thinking, campaign energy adviser Heather Zichal said Obama "recognises that Americans are suffering."
The reserve contains 707 million barrels in salt caverns in Texas and Louisiana. It was last tapped shortly after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
Obama said US politicians have failed for three decades to deal with the energy crisis, and that McCain has been "part of that failure." He called tapping the petroleum reserves a short-term solution to a long-term problem.
"Like George Bush and Dick Cheney before him," Obama said of the Arizonan, "he sees more drilling as the answer to all of our energy problems, and like them, he's found a receptive audience in the very same oil companies that have blocked our progress for so long. In fact, he raised more than one million dollars from big oil just last month."
Also on Monday, Obama's campaign unveiled a television ad that criticises McCain's energy policies. "After one President in the pocket of big oil we can't afford another," says the ad, referring to Bush's previous work in the oil industry.
Both candidates have moderated their positions since earlier this year. McCain abandoned his past opposition to drilling on the Outer Continental shelf and now is an aggressive advocate of such drilling. On Friday, Obama signalled that he could support limited new offshore drilling if it were needed to enact a compromise energy policy.
"We're not going to achieve energy independence by inflating our tires," McCain told employees at the National Label in Lafayette Hill, Pennsylvania part of Obama's energy plan calls for consumers to fully inflate their tires for improved gas mileage.
McCain also called on Obama to join him in calling for Congress to return from its August recess to pass a comprehensive energy policy. Spokesman Bill Burton said Obama would join the call only if McCain is willing to pass a policy that provides $1,000 energy rebates and invests in renewable energy — two of Obama's proposals.
Gas prices have risen steadily as an issue since last November, according to a recent AP-Yahoo News poll. The issue rose to second place after the economy more broadly.
Obama said it was his "single overarching goal" to end US reliance on oil from the Middle East and Venezuela over the next 10 years; he put the government pricetag at $150 billion.
The petroleum reserve is capable of releasing about 4 million barrels a day. It's unclear what impact such a release might have on global oil prices, or costs of gasoline at the pump. But a clear signal by the United States to use its emergency reserve to a significant extent could put downward pressure on oil markets at least for a time, energy experts say.
In 2000, President Clinton used a similar "swap" of government oil as proposed by Obama, making available 30 million barrels because of concern over rising prices and supply worries in advance of that year's winter heating season. Republicans criticised the move as an attempt to help then Vice President Al Gore's Presidential bid.
Obama said that, under his plan, oil companies would bid to borrow easily refinable light sweet oil from the reserve, and replace it later with heavier oil.
Elgie Holstein, an Obama energy adviser, said that while fewer refineries now are capable of refining the heavier stuff into gasoline, that won't be the case in the future.

Status quo on Kashmir, US tells Gilani

Gilani appealed to Washington for support on Kashmir Washington: Two days after Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani appealed to Washington to "encourage and support the Kashmir issue", the United States said that its stand on the contentious issue remains unchanged.State Department Spokesman Sean McCormack said the United States' policy on Kashmir remains the same and that there is "no change".He was asked whether the Kashmir issue was discussed during the Pakistani Premier's visit to the US. In his public address at the Council on Foreign Relations during his visit, Gilani had said that Washington "should encourage and support this issue." When asked how he want the US to play a role on the Kashmir issue, Gilani said: "Actually what the United States really want, they can do it."

Lara replaces Tabu in Priyadarshan's 'Billo Barber'

Mumbai, June 25 (IANS) Director Priyadarshan admits he had written the female lead of his forthcoming 'Billo Barber' with favourite actress Tabu in mind but had to settle for Lara Dutta instead due to date problems.

Priyadarshan and Tabu have done great work together in films like 'Viraasat' and 'Kala Pani'. The versatile actress even agreed to do an inconsequential role in 'Hera Pheri' only for Priyadarshan's sake.


'Billo Barber' is being produced by superstar Shah Rukh Khan and Priyadarshan wanted Tabu to star in it. But after she opted out, Lara bagged the role.


Said Priyadarshan: 'It's a role of a full-on firebrand village girl. And it's patterned on Tabu's role in my 'Viraasat'. I've to admit I think of Tabu for every female lead. But Lara is sensitive and strong enough to carry this role off with elan.'


He said that Lara plays the wife of a barber, portrayed by Irrfan Khan.


'Though the character belongs to a higher caste, she defies social norms and the diktats of the village to marry a barber. Lara's sophisticated image hasn't come in the way of her performance at all. She'll shock you,' said Priyadarshan.


Shah Rukh also stars in 'Billo Barber', but not opposite Lara.


Said a source close to the project: 'There was a certain amount of reservation about the part when Lara heard it was opposite Irrfan. Lara is extremely conscious of her co-stars' status. Earlier she had refused Anil Kapoor's 'Short Cut' with Arshad Warsi.


'But the temptation of being in the same film with Shah Rukh prevailed. She had never been in any film with him and he's producing 'Billo Barbar'. She sees this as stepping stone to a film with Shah Rukh.'


Earlier Lara had done a walk-on part in 'Fanaa' and admitted she had done it to work with Aamir Khan and to gain an entry into Yash Raj Films. And very soon she got a full-fledged role in 'Jhoom Baraabar Jhoom' with the illustrious banner.

Relationship between plant layout and material handling

There is a close connection between the concepts of plant layout and material handling. A good plant structure can ascertain the least material handling process and inexpensive material handling equipment. The material handling factors to be considered while designing the plant layout are:

1) Excessive material movement damages the materials and causes loss of valuable man-hours in shifting materials. A layout should be designed such that it suits the manufacturing requirement of the products and reduces the material handling to minimum.

2) If the workers are compelled to search through the entire workshop for a particular material, their productive time is bound to go wasted. For maximum utilization of their time the plant should be equipped with:
a) Clearly identified and well-named functional areas.
b) Distinct areas for raw materials, tools, work-in-process, inspection and finished goods.

3) For an effective and speedy movement of materials there should be an effective use of:
a) Bins, trolleys, racks and trays to keep materials instead of placing them on floors
b) Proper packaging techniques before dispatching
c) Conveyors, chutes, inclined planes and gravity feed bins to automate, materials
movement.

4) Public utilities should be located at easily accessible distances and should not
require distant walks on part of the workers

5) Economical use of space should be aimed. Machines and equipments should be
placed in such a way that there is a minimal or no wastage of space and yet there
should be optimum choice for expansion.

6) Maximum opportunity for greater width of aisles, heights of ceilings and other
areas of storage so the need of later alterations will be reduced

A good plant layout thus facilitates an efficient material handling system. It offers minimum material handling by making material movements shorter, faster and economical. Overcrowding is prevented. Delays in supplying are avoided due smooth manufacturing activity and hence it is generally desirable to adopt a good plant layout that facilities minimum handling.

Defination :
Section 2(d) of the Indian Contract Act defines consideration as follows, “When at the desire of the promiser, the promisee or any other person has done or abstained from doing, or does or abstains from doing, or promises to do or to abstain from doing, something, such act or abstinences or promise is called a consideration for the promise.”

A stranger to a contract cannot sue:
A person may be a stranger to the consideration but he should not be a stranger to the contract because 'privity of contract' is essential for enforcing any of the rights arising out of the contract. It being a fundamental principle of the law of contracts that' a stranger to a contract cannot sue, only a person who is a party to a contract can sue on it. Thus, where A mortgages his property to B in consideration of B's promise to A to pay A's debt to C, C cannot file a suit against B to enforce his promise, C being no party to the contract between A and B (Iswaram Pillai vs Sonnivaveru7)

Exceptions: The above rule that 'a stranger to a contract cannot sue' is subject to the following exceptions:

(i) Where an express or implied trust is created. In case of a trust, the beneficiary can sue in his own right to enforce his rights under the trust, though he was not a party to the contract between the settler and the trustees.

Illustrations. (a) A transfers certain properties to B to be held by B in trust for the benefit of M. M can enforce the agreement i.e., trust (At. K. Rapai vs John8).
(h) An addressee of an insured article is entitled to sue the Post Office in case of loss, as on receipt of such article, the Post Office becomes in Jaw a constructive trustee for the addressee (Ami" Ullah vs Central Govt.9).

(ii) Family settlement. Where a provision is made in a pal1ition or family arrangement for maintenance or marriage expenses of female members; such members, though not parties to the agreement, can sue on the footing of the arrangement.

Illustration. A daughter along with her husband entered into a contract with her father whereby it was agreed that she will maintain her mother and the property of the father will be conveyed to them. The daughter subsequently refused to maintain the mother. On a suit it was held that the mother was entitled to require her daughter to maintain her, though she was a stranger to the contract (Veeramma vs Appayya).10

(iii) When the defendant constitutes himself, as the agent of the third party. Thus if A receives some money from B to be paid over to C and he admits of this receipt to C, then C can recover this amount from A who shall be regarded as the agent of C (Surjan vs Nanat). II.

(iv) In case of agency. Where a contract is entered into by an agent, the principal can sue on it.


(v) In case of assignment of rights under a contract in favour of a third party either voluntarily or by operation of law, the assignee can enforce the benefits of the contract, e.g., the assignee of an insurance policy or the official assignee on the insolvency of a person can. sue on the contract even though originally they were not parties to it.

“Management and Administration”

The late President of United States highlighted management; John F. Kennedy when he said that, .the role of management in our society is critical in human progress. It serves to identify a great need of our time: to improve standards of living for all people through effective utilisation of human and material sources. Similarly, Peter F. Drucker, a noted management authority has emphasised the importance of management to social living. He proclaimed nearly 25 years ago that, "effective management was becoming the main resource, of developed nations and that it was the most needed' resource for developing nations."

A manager's job is "highly crucial to the success of any organisation. the more complex the organisation, the more crucial is the manager's role in it. A good manager makes things happen. The importance of management in any organisation was emphasised byProfessor Leonard R. Sayles in his address to a group of management development specialists, as follows:

"We must find ways of convincing society as a whole, and those who train managers in particular, that the real leadership problems of our institutions-the getting things done, the implementation, the evolving of a consensus, the making of the right decisions at the right time with the right people-are where the action is. Although we as a society haven't learned to give much credit to managers, I hope we can move toward recognising that managerial and leadership jobs are among the most critical tasks of our society. As such, they deserve the professional status that we give to more traditional fields of knowledge."

MANAGEMENT DEFINED:-
Many management thinkers have defined management in their own ways. For example, Van Fleet and Peterson define management, "as a set of activities directed at the efficient and effective utilisation of resources 'in the pursuit of one or more goals.

Managerial
Activities

Financial
Resources

Effective and
Efficient
Utilisation

Human
Resources

Physical
Resources

Goals

Informational
Resources





















THE COMPONENTS OF MANAGEMENT
Megginson, Mosley and pietri define management as “working with human, financial and physical resource to achieve organizational objectives by performing the planning, organizing, leading and controlling functions.” Shows the megginson, monsley and pietri definition of management.


Planning
Organising
Leading
Controlling
Human Financial
And physical
Recourses

Goals
Management





MEGGINSON, MOSLEY AND PIETRI MANAGEMENT DEFINITION

Kreitner considers management as a Problem solving process. He defines management as follow:-

"Management is a problem' solving process of effectively achieving Organizational objective’s through the efficient use of scarce resources in a changing environment."
Some of the integral elements of this definition can be separated and briefly explained as follows:

PROBLEM SOLVING PROCESS: -

One of the most important functions of a manager is to make decisions and solve problem Some- of the major problems that management must continually face "include unpredictable economic trend's 'changing governmental regulations, resource shortage and a severe competition for these resources, employee demands technical problems, technological developments and so on, There are other problems that are comparatively routine in-nature and can be solved by some tried and tested mechanisms. For example, a change in production quality can be easily looked into and the process corrected or modified or changed if necessary. On the other hand, an increase in employee grievances or employee absenteeism or turnover may require carefully studied unique solutions.

ORGANIZATIONAL OBJECTIVES:-

All organizational have a mission that is very basic reason for their existence' and certain goals and objective while goals are 'long' range and 'more general in nature, objectives are more specific, tangible and most often quantifiable. For example, the mission of a college may be high quality education, its goal may be to primarily serve the educational needs of the surrounding community and its objective may be to increase the number of new students entering the college by ten per cent in two years. The primary objective of most organizational is "to provide a service .for the public. Of course such service has to be- profitable for the organization in monetary terms; 'for that is the essence of a capitalist economy. Accordingly, management must plan its activities along these lines, additionally; it is also the management’s responsibility to integrate the personal objective of employee into organizational objectives. The personal objective of the employee may include higher remuneration, more challenging tasks and responsibilities and participation in the decision making process.
EFFICIENCY:-
Efficiency along with most common way of measuring organizational performance. Efficiency is ability to get thing done correct. An efficiency manager achieve a higher out put with given resource of time, talent and capital. So that this resource are fully utilized without waste. Similarly effectiveness means” doing the right thing in a right way at the right time. Accordingly successful managers would not only be effective in terms of selecting the right things to do and the right method for getting them done, buy they would be efficient in fully utilizing resources.

6. SCARE RESOURCE :-
The resource of people time capital and raw material all finite and limited. They are all scare in nature and are not expandable additionally, they are in fierce competition for acquiring these recourse.

7. CHANGING ENVIRONMENT:-
the dynamic of the environment is evidenced by the changing that have taken place in all areas in last few years. The advent of computer and telecommunication technology had change the way in which assessment of the environment in carried out for discussion making purpose, Accordingly, management must be prepared to predict accurately these changes and formulate ways to meet these new challenges more effectively.

MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION:-
The terms 'management' and 'administration' are often used synonymously. According to Dalton E. McFarland "In business firms, administration refers to higher, policy­ determining level. One seldom regards the first-line supervisor as an administrator, instead he is a manager. In the health care fields and in many service organization, problems (such as individual's chronic disease) are managed but programmers (such as flu vaccine distribution) are administered".
Administration may be defined as "the guidance, leadership and control of the efforts" of a group of individuals towards some common goals'. Often the terms administration and management are used together as administrative management. Administrative Management is different from 'operative management', which is concerned with the operational aspects of a business. Some experts like Oliver and Sheldon distinguished administration from management by suggesting definition of their own.

THE DEFINITION
Administration is defined as a function of an organisation that is concerned with policy ­determination, co-ordination of finances, production, distribution and control of the executives that are required for establishing an organisation. Contrary to this, management is the process that is concerned with the execution of the policies within certain limits set by the administration and employment of the organizationfor the purpose of accomplishing objectives laid down by the administration.

ESSENCE OF ADMINISTRATION:-
Ordway Tead has analysed the process of administration into distinct elements, which are:
Establishing the objectives of an organisation
Formulating broad policies for an organisation
Stimulating the organization.
Evaluating the performance of an organization
Looking head
Thus management action is directed towards attainting aims and objectives that are laid down by administration. It is there fore; clear that administration is more important at higher levels whereas management is more important at lower levels in the firm’s organizational pyramid.
The administration is a top-level wile management is a bottom level function. The fundamental point of distention between these two aspects is that former is the process of formulating policies and goals of the organization while the latter directs and guides of operation and functional aspect of the organization toward achieve the objectives set former.
A closer look reveals that the scope of management is broader than that of administration it is true that planning valid that every level of management, irrespective of its hierarchy is the organizational set up has to do some sort of planning and policy making along with their execution, therefore management includes both administrative and management and operative management.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN BANKING SECTOR

In today’s banking word there is increasing demand and importance for Information Technology (IT) due to many features, which ultimately helps banks to reduce its heavy costs for providing maximum number of transactions and services to customer for maximum time. To survive in healthy banking competition, no one can bring their bank upward without having IT in their system. IT is necessity of any bank to serve their customers & to reduce unwanted cost. Many programmers are available to provide customer satisfaction. It not only provides quick and fast service but also reduce transaction cost and large paper work.

In the sixties and seventies the banking industry was fiercely competitive as ever was losing the battle of providing good customer services due to impossibly heavy workloads. All major banks already had branches in most major locations and they simply had to recruit more and more staff to cope with the increasing number of customers. The accepted wisdom was that cost was the main basis for competition and so the banks were making strenuous efforts to reduce operational costs, kicking off the process by computerizing customer accounts. ATMs made it easy to deposit and withdraw money, check balances, request statements etc. and coupled with the added advantage of round the clock availability, they not only reduced staff workloads but save customers a new experience of hassle-free banking.

The banking sector has come a long way since then. Now almost all banks are using services from IT to reduce it’s cost It is now one of the largest users of information technology. Some of the areas where banks typically use IT to reduce cost of operations & heavy workload are mentioned below:

1) Back office computerization: Nowadays, almost all Indian and international banks run on fully integrated and online systems where all back office operations like accounts posting, reconciliation, clearing house operations, etc., are completely automated.

2) Front office computerization: All banks provide facilities like instant account statement, making fixed deposits, electronic funds transfer, direct debit facility, etc. to their customers.

3) Automatic Teller Machines (ATMs): These computerised machines enable customers to do their regular bank transactions (like depositing and withdrawing money, ascertaining current account balance, etc.) without visiting a bank branch. ATMs considerably reduce costs for banks (employee cost, space cost, etc.) and provide better level of service to customers (by enabling 24 hour banking access at numerous locations).

4) Net Banking: Most banks like HSBC, Standard Chartered, HDFC, ICICI etc., have extremely user friendly websites where the typical banking transaction (like cash delivery, generating account statements, requests for cheque books and drafts etc.) can be carried out online without visiting the bank. This innovative use of IT has meant that effectively, customers have no need to personally visit the bank for routine banking transactions, which reduce time consumption, inconvenience for customers as well as reduce employee welfare cost in bank.

REQUIREMENTS OF DATABASE

Requirements of database help in determining the prerequisites before storing the data in
the database. Following are the requirements for database management.

1) Non-redundancy
As already suggested, non-redundancy is beneficial in eliminating the contradictions and in saving storage space. Occasionally, amount of redundancy is acceptable such as when the need for data security or rapid access is paramount.

2) Data independence

This means that the data and the programs are independent, which means that the data can be moved or restructured without the need to make alterations to the programs. Similarly an enforced program change does not call for rearrangement of the data layout. If there is no data independency, then a program requiring more data items from a file necessitates rearranging it, and consequently other programs have to be modified to cope with the rearrangement of the file.

3) Program usage
A database needs to be usable by not only all the existing applications but also by all foreseeable applications. These are ambitious aims, but nonetheless a database must be open-ended so as to accept new sets of data items and change to the existing data item sets.

4) Data Inter-relationships
Data inter-relationships are necessary because of the fact that various applications use data in different ways. For example, one application may demand a link between an employee's name and his pension contribution, another between his tax payment and his previous employer. Requirements such as these impose stringent demands upon the database's accuracy, security and flexibility.

5) Common approach
Common approach is based on simplicity and understanding of data and programs. Although application programmers are not concerned with .the database's structure and techniques, a common approach simplifies the database control programs and facilitates the database administrator's work.

The objectives and requirements of the Database

DATABASE CONCEPT
A database is an organized collection of data. The term originated within the computer industry. In other words, a database is a collection of records stored on a computer in a systematic way. The computer program used to manage and query a database is known as a Database Management System (DBMS). The central concept of a database is that of a collection of records or pieces of knowledge. A great deal of the internal engineering of a DBMS, however, is independent of the data model and is concerned with managing factors such as performance, concurrency, integrity and recovery from hardware failures.

OBJECTIVES OF DATABASE

Below mentioned are some objectives of Database.

1) Database should permit the establishment of a single area for common information that is used by all authorized users.

2) It should allow important information to be recorded on floppy disk, magnetic disk, or mass storage, while secondary records are maintained on magnetic tape or other low-cost storage medium.

3) It should guarantee accuracy of updating by an automatic maintenance feature for all segments of the data file.

4) It should allow variable-length records in order to conserve space.

5) It should have provision for expanding or reducing files, both the number of records in the file and the data elements in each record.

6) It should allow security of files or segments of files.

7) There must be a provision for some types of lockout feature so that certain files or areas of files or even individual records cannot be accessed during updating.

Data and Information

INFORMATION AND DATA

The words, information and data, are used interchangeably in many contexts. However, they are not synonyms. It is necessary to make distinction between the two terms namely, data and information that are usually used interchangeably.
The interchange of the words data and information is widespread; following explanation should help to develop a clearer understanding of the differences between the two.

Data

Ø Facts, statistics used for reference or analysis.
Ø Numbers, characters, symbols, images etc., which can be processed by a computer.
Ø Data must be interpreted, by a human or machine, to derive meaning
Ø Data is a representation of information

Information

Ø Knowledge derived from study, experience (by the senses), or instruction.
Ø Communication of intelligence.
Ø Information is any kind of knowledge that is exchangeable amongst people, about
things, facts, concepts, etc., in some context."
Ø Information is interpreted data”

Data is the material on which computer programs work upon. It can be numbers, letters of the alphabet, words, special symbols but they themselves have no meaning. For example, the following sequence of digits 240343 is meaningless by itself since it could refer to date of birth, part number for a automobile, number of rupees spent on a project, population of a town, number of people employed in a large organisation etc. Once we know what the sequence refers to, then it becomes meaningful and can be called information. For example, when we write 24-03-43, it may mean date of birth as 24th March 1943.
In general terms, Data is any fact or number. It may have some meaning or not.
But Information is a data, which cannot be predicted with a probability of 1. It is always meaningful.

The editing and proofing tolls available in MS Word

EDITING TOOLS:
Following are the some common editing tools available in Ms Word

Spelling Check
This tool underlines words having spelling errors in red. Just Right click the red underlined word & Select proper corrective word
OR Click anywhere in the red, underlined word,

Grammar Check
Word underlines grammar errors in green. To correct it Right click the green, underlined error and Select correction
OR Click anywhere in the green ð underlined error ð Click Tools ð Spelling and Grammar ð Select corrective word, grammar and style.

Highlighter
Highlighter is the one of the editing tool which includes tools to select font type, size, color, alignment, etc.
We can change the color of the highlighted word by clicking the down arrow to the right of the Highlighter icon and selecting a new color.

Tracking Changes
If you are an editor, you now can add, delete, change words, etc. The changes will be marked in red. If you are a writer, you can see the changes made by the editor, and accept or reject those changes by clicking the appropriate icon. Click the arrows to move to the next or previous change, etc.

Inserting Comments
Comments tool help to insert the words, phrase, or section in a document where you want to add a comment

¯ PROOFING TOOLS

The Microsoft Proofing Tools for Ms Word are a collection of editing technologies that enable users to proof Office documents in more than 50 different languages.
The spelling checker identifies possible misspellings in a text file by comparing the contents of the file with a database of accepted spellings, and is one of the most frequently used features of Microsoft Word. But spellers can perform more sophisticated tasks than simply comparing terms from a database.

Grammar and Style Checker
The grammar checker corrects sentences using a system of rules that defines the grammatical structure of a language. Microsoft Word integrates this tool and runs it in the background, making corrections automatically.

Thesaurus
The basic function of a thesaurus is to look up synonyms for a particular word. But the thesauri in Proofing Tools perform more sophisticated tasks than simply retrieving direct synonyms for a given term from a database. Special algorithms in thesauri extract inflectional information (i.e. variations of a word) from a stem word (i.e. base word) to
provide a series of synonyms with the same inflection. For example, looking up the word running would yield the possible synonym jogging.

AutoCorrect
AutoCorrect automatically detects and corrects typos, misspelled words, grammatical errors, and incorrect capitalization. For example, if you type teh plus a space, then AutoCorrect replaces what you have typed with "the." You can also use AutoCorrect to quickly insert text, graphics, or symbols. For example, type (c) to insert "©", or type ac to insert "Acme Corporation."

Hyphenation
Hyphenation helps eliminate gaps or in justified text, and helps maintain even line lengths in narrow columns. The hyphenation tool allows a user to connect (as two words) or divide (as a word at the end of a line of print) two or more terms with a hyphen. Languages vary in their flexibility on hyphenation rules.

AutoSummarize
AutoSummarize identifies the key points in a document for you to share with others or quickly scan. The tool determines key points by analyzing a document and assigning a score to each sentence. Sentences that contain words used frequently in the document are given a higher score. You can then choose a percentage of the highest-scoring sentences to display in the summary.

Input Method EditorsAn Input Method Editor (IME) works with the operating system to allow you to enter Asian text in Windows and enabled applications - including Office 2003 - by converting your keystrokes into Asian characters.

( a) THE BASIC ELEMENTS OF WINDOWS DESKTOP, (b)Windows Explorer & (c) Main Features of Word Pad

( a) THE BASIC ELEMENTS OF WINDOWS DESKTOP

Once Windows is loaded into the memory of the computer, the focus is placed on the desktop. The desktop is designed to act just like an actual desktop. The desktop is a window that covers your entire computer screen. It is the interface through which all of the programs are accessed. All other programs run on the top of the Windows desktop.

The Windows desktop is comprised of three key elements:
1) Icons 2) Start menu & 3) Taskbar

1) Icons:
Icons can be further classified into five categories:
Ø Folder Icons: When a folder icon is double clicked, a folder window is opened displaying the contents of the folder.

Ø Program Icons: When a Program icon is double clicked, the corresponding program is loaded into the memory of the computer and the application starts running in a Window.

Ø Document Icons: When a document icon is double clicked, the document itself is opened. For e.g., (Word processing program, spreadsheet, database etc.

Ø Shortcut Icons: Shortcut icons provide an alternate way to open programs, documents, and folders

Ø System Icons: System icons are mandatory programs or files that are located on your desktop. User is not allowed to delete the system icon, since deleting the system icon would mean deleting the actual program from the hard drive of the computer. Examples of System Icons are Recycle Bin, My Computer, and Network Neighborhood etc.

? Recycle Bin: Any file that is deleted from the hard disk of the computer is moved to a separate folder called Recycle Bin. The files stored in the bin can be restored to their original location by using the 'Restore' option of Recycle Bin. To empty the Recycle Bin, simply right click on this icon and-select 'Empty Recycle Bin' option.

? My Computer: Double clicking the "My Computer" icon will open a window that displays the contents of the computer. All the files and folders available in the computer can be viewed here. It also allows you to display the system and hardware information.

? Network Neighborhood: "Network Neighborhood" icon displays windows from other computers and resources, like printer, connected to the network.


( b) WINDOWS EXPLORER

Windows Explorer is a utility that represents the contents of the computer in a graphical form. It allows you to do various file and disk management tasks like copy, rename, move and delete file(s) and create folder(s) and sub-folder(s), format floppies etc. It is the quickest way to get a complete view of the contents of computer.
Windows Explorer can be accessed:

Start -+ Programs -+ Windows Explorer

Ø Elements of window explorer:
Standard Toolbar: Gives access to the commonly used functions.

Address Bar: Displays the path of the selected document. Document could be a file, folder, sub-folder or a drive itself. The selected item is usually displayed in blue colour.

Tree View: Windows Explorer displays all the items in a tree view structure. Items can be expanded and contracted by clicking on the plus and minus signs that appear next to some of the icons. 'Plus' sign indicates that there are more items within the folder. 'Minus' sign represents the expanded view. Icons that have neither a plus sign nor a minus sign indicate that there are no additional items inside them.

Left/Right Pane: The left pane of the Windows Explorer is used to select a folder or drive so that its contents can be displayed in the right pane. The name of the selected folder is displayed in the window's title bar. As soon as you select a different folder in the left pane, the contents of the right pane change to reflect that folder's contents.

Ø Features of Windows Explorer
Following are the few features of Window Explorer
1) Creating Folders and Files: We can create various folders & files in the same explorer

2) Creating Sub-folders: Sub folders can be created within original folder.

3) Opening Folder: From the left pane, we can select any folder to explore further for sub-folders, files etc.

4) Opening files: Desired double clicking on that particular folder and files can open file of any application.

5) Copying files: We can copy folders files into the other folder by selecting & pasting it to the desires place. Copying can be done using various methods in Window explorer e.g. Click & Drag method, Copy & Paste method, Selecting range of files & pasting method, selecting selected files with the help of control key & pasting

6) Renaming files/Folders: Files and folders can be renamed using window explorer

7) Deleting files/Folders: Selected files & folders can be deleted.

8) Changing folder views: Folders in Windows Explorer can be viewed in different views. E.g. Large Icon View, Small Icon View, List View, Details View. Details view displays information like item name, size, type and the date item was last created or modified. We can sort all files and folders by date wise, type wise and name wise.

(C)MAIN FEATURES OF WORDPAD

WordPad is a simple word processor that is included with almost all versions of Microsoft Windows from Windows 95 upwards. It is more advanced than Notepad, but not as advanced as Microsoft Word.
WordPad is the one of the commonly used accessory. It is a the text based editor that supports more features than Notepad. WordPad can be for files larger than 64 KB. It supports all the features than Notepad. Some of the features of the WordPad are as under.


1) Allows formatting of text using different font style, colours and bullets.
2) Different alignment options (Left, Right, and Centre) are provided for the paragraphs.
3) Allows to set page margins and a preview of the page can be seen of how document would appear in print.
4) Toolbars are provided that provide quick access to commonly used functions. User has option to View/hide the toolbars.
5) Allows to embed/link an object into a WordPad document from the another file.
6) Find and replace can be used to locate a particular piece of text within a document.
7) It can be used to automatically replace a particular piece of text with something else.

WordPad can be accessed from:

Start Programs Accessories WordPad

STEPS FOR INSTALLING LINUX

To explain the steps involved in the installation of Linux, RED HAT LINUX 8.0 has been chosen. The following information represents the minimum hardware requirements necessary to successfully install Red Hat Linux:

CPU:
(1) Minimum: Pentium-class, (2) Recommended for text-mode: 200 MHz Pentium-class or better (3) Recommended for graphical: 400 MHz Pentium II or better
Hard Disk Space :
1) Custom Installation (minimum): 475MB, 2) Server (minimum): 850MB 3) Personal Desktop: 1.7GB, 4) Workstation: 2.1GB, 5) Custom Installation (everything): 5.0GB

Memory:
1) Minimum for text-mode: 64MB, 2) Minimum for graphical: 128MB, 3)Recommended for graphical: 192MB

Ø INSTALLATION STEPS:
1. Insert the Linux install CD into the CD-ROM drive and reboot your system. The computer will automatically boot from the CD and a text-based menu will be displayed.

2. You will then need to choose an installation environment. The default is the graphical installation (GUI). If you prefer a text-based install, type "text" at the prompt and hit the Enter key.

3. Next step is to select the Language for installation programmer. Default language is English.

4. Select your keyboard layout and Mouse type. Accepting the default (US English) should work in most cases.

5. Select the type of installation (Workstation /Server/Custom). If you have a previous installation, the option of updating it will also be provided.

6. Choose Disk Druid or fdisk. Partition sizes and numbers may vary with your set up, but as a bare minimum, you will need to create a ‘/’ (root) and a swap partition.

7. Enter the details of configuration of your network interfaces.

8. The firewall configuration screen offers a choice of firewall configurations. Choose 'Medium Firewall' for the time being without worrying too much as this stage about the concept of a firewall.


9. For time zone selection for India, choose "Asia/Calcutta". There is also option of setting the UTC to +5.

10. Enter a root password when prompted. Do not forget it. You should create a user account here, which you will be using to work on your machine. It is not advisable to work as root at all times.

11. Select the packages that you want to install. You get to choose from installing KDE, GNOME and a collection of other utilities.

12. Select the video card that you have, the installer would try to auto detect the card for you, failing which you can select it manually.

13. If your monitor type is not listed, select custom and enter your monitor specifications manually. Select the colour depth and the screen resolution that you wish to run the X Window system in, after installation. Choose your default desktop environment and whether you want a graphical or a text-based login. You can test the X Window configuration after installation and then switch to graphics based login.

14. The installer will now format the Linux partitions and will install the required packages. You can watch the progress of the formatting by switching to the virtual terminals using Alt+ 1 to Alt+5 (if you are doing a text based install) or by using Ctrl+Alt+2 to Ctrl+Alt+5 (for graphics based install).

15. After some time you would be prompted to insert other CD’s one - by - one. Insert this as prompted by the installation.

16. Once all the packages are installed, you will be given the opportunity create a book disk. It is strongly recommended that you create one at this stage.

17. At this point, the installation is completed. Remove the CD – ROM from drive and reboot using the Linux system that you have just installed.