India Not to Ban Blackberry Phones
The blackberry users in India can leave a sigh of relief at least for the moment. The Indian government, which contemplated banning the blackberry devices in India for security concerns has now said that it will not be doing so. At least for the moment. The blackberry in question was that of RIM’s recently introduced phones in India.
The controversy over the security aspect of the blackberry rose when Tata Teleservices was denied permission by the home affairs ministry to launch services owing to security concerns even while other operators were offering the service. DoT, however, said out it had already informed all operators to stop Blackberry services by the end of December because of objections by home ministry. However, responding to requests, operators were given a three-month extension, which ends in March.
The major concern for security agencies in India seems to be the fact that emails made from Blackberry can neither be traced nor be recorded. But the telecom ministry has assured that there is simply no question of banning the blackberries. In fact, the telecom ministry even said that it is keen to see the blackberries continue their services in India.
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Source: TMC Net
Sarabjit’s village unites to save him
Sarabjit Singh’s native village has united to show its solidarity with the son of this soil. Relatives and friends, supported by religious and social organizations of the nondescript village close to Indo-Pak border have joined hands to save Sarabjit, who will reportedly be sent to the gallows on April 1 in Pakistan.
On Monday, the locals made an announcement from Bhikhiwind Chowk, urging the traders to close their establishments to express solidarity for the man whose only offence was reportedly that he had crossed the border while he was under the influence of liquor some 17 years ago.
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Source: India Times
Spectrum War Round II: GSM, CDMA providers fight over eGSM band
A new round of spectrum battle has broken out between existing GSM operators and CDMA players who are launching GSM services after the government recently approved mobile services on dual technology. This time around, they are battling for the rights to use the ‘eGSM band’.
The ‘eGSM band’ involves radio frequencies of 880-890 MHz paired with 925-935 MHz. The GSM operators’ body, Cellular Operators’ Association of India (COAI), has said that globally this band is used by service providers to offer GSM-based mobile services and all the GSM equipment manufactured worldwide is attuned to operating in this band. In India, however, this band was earmarked for CDMA-based mobile services though it was never allotted to CDMA operators.
Source: Economic Times
Sewage falling into Ganga causing cancer, SC informed
The Supreme Court today decided to hear the issue of discharge of untreated sewage into the Ganga posing a cancer threat to people living on its banks.
Two applications filed in the apex court pointed to threat of deadly diseases afflicting due to domestic sewage pollution of the Ganga in 36 towns in four states of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal.
The applications pointed out that the pollution posed thread of diseases like gall bladder cancer, mild intestinal disease and kidney complications.
The court, which is monitoring the ambitious Ganga Action Plan aimed at checking pollution in the river, was informed that the serious health hazards due to domestic sewage pollution had been confirmed by Industrial Toxicology Research Institute, Lucknow.
Advocate Krishan Mahajan, who is assisting the court in the matter, mentioned the applications filed by him before a Bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and expressed the urgency of hearing the health threat to around 76 per cent of the people living on the banks.
He said that the latest report of the Lucknow institute had found that Ganga waters have become home to a virulent form of E-coli bacteria (producing the Shiga toxin) that can lead to ailments ranging from mild intestinal disease to severe kidney complications.
Courtesy: Outlook India
Agarwalla Brothers May Make Millions From Scrabulous
Brothers Rajat and Jayant Agarwalla, the creators of the online word game Scrabulous, could make millions of dollars from their game, which started off as a hobby. The rights to for the Scrabble board game are held by Hasbro in North America and Mattel in the rest of the world. Both companies kicked off an online storm when they accused the brothers of pirating their game.
However with over 700,000 daily users Scrabulous has a mighty fan following and when these fans threatened to boycott products made by Mattel and Hasbro, the gloves were off. Speculations are that the company will now buy the game from the Agarwalla brothers.
The whole story began in 2004 when the brothers created the software version of Scrabble and called it Bingo Binge. Apparently they were miffed when a website where they played the game decided to charge users.
Courtesy: NewsLocale
India running short of product managers,technical architects: Survey
Indian software product development companies are currently witnessing a dearth of product managers and technical architects, according to a study.
India currently has around 800 product managers and 2,500 technical architects though the demand for the same was three times more, according to Pari Natarajan, CEO of Zinnov, a consulting firm which has released the results of its annual survey on ‘Compensation and Benefits 2008.’
The average salary for technical architects rose from Rs 17.3 lakh in 2005 to Rs 18.85 lakh in 2006 and Rs 22.17 lakh last year due to the wide gap between demand and supply, the survey, which covered 40 software product development companies in Chennai, Bangalore, Pune, NCR region of the country, said.
The average salaries of product managers rose by 25 to 30 per cent, said Shammi from Zinnov.
Courtesy: Economic Times
Kashmir Singh admits he was a spy
Kashmir Singh, who was freed from Pakistani jail after 35 years, on Friday admitted that he was an Indian spy and did his best to serve the country, but deplored that successive governments at the Centre did nothing for his family.
“After my arrest in 1974, the successive governments did nothing for my family. I did the duty assigned to me as a spy…but the government after my arrest did not bother to spend a single penny for my family,” a calm and composed looking Singh, who was accompanied by his wife Paramjeet Kaur, told reporters here.
Sixty seven-year-old Singh thanked God for being kind to him and said the various governments at the Centre did nothing for any of the prisoners languishing in various jails in Pakistan.
“The Central government did not bother to take care of my family following my arrest. The government does only the paper work,” he said.
Source: Hindu
Four Indians in Forbes list of 10 richest in the world
Four Indians are among the 10 richest in the world, the highest number from a single country, according to Forbes’ list of world’s billionaires.
While Warren Buffet, the Berkshire Hathaway investor, takes the title of the world’s richest man from Microsoft chief Bill Gates who slips to third place after a 13-year reign at the top, Britain-based industrialist Lakshmi Mittal has climbed one spot from last year to be ranked fourth this year in the US magazine’s annual list of billionaires released on Wednesday.
With a net worth of $45 billion, Mittal heads the world’s largest steel maker ArcelorMittal. He lives in Britain but retains his Indian citizenship.
Just behind Mittal is Mukesh Ambani at No 5. With a net worth of $43 billion, he is Asia’s richest resident. He heads petrochemicals giant Reliance Industries, India’s most valuable company by market cap. His fortune is up $22.9 billion since last year, making him the world’s second biggest gainer in terms of dollars. His rank last year was 14.
Mukesh’s estranged brother Anil Ambani is the biggest gainer. He now ranks sixth in the world, climbing 12 places from last year. He gained $23.8 billion over the year and is now worth $42 billion. His biggest asset is his 65 per cent stake in telecom venture Reliance Communications. He raised $3 billion last month from the Reliance Power IPO, the biggest in India’s history. Despite the hype, the stock tumbled 17 per cent immediately after it was listed.
KP Singh, chief of real estate developer DLF, has climbed from 62nd place to eighth, helped by his company’s listing which tripled his fortune to $30 billion.
Courtesy: Hindustan Times
India May Ask Banks to Lower Home Loan Interest Rates
Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram said Indian banks should consider lowering rates on some housing loans while the central bank maintains high borrowing costs to curb inflation.
The government may ask banks to lower interest charges on housing loans of up to 2 million rupees ($50,000), Chidambaram said at a conference in New Delhi today. The Reserve Bank of India’s policies are aimed at curbing inflation while also boosting economic growth, he said.
Chidambaram today sought to allay concerns that banks would have to shoulder the cost of the government’s planned 600 billion rupee write-off of rural debt. The Bankex Index has slumped 12 percent since Chidambaram in his budget speech on Feb. 29 proposed the loan waivers.
Source: Bloomberg
Remorseless Hayden relishing bad reputation
Matthew Hayden’s recent comments about Harbhajan Singh have upheld his reputation as Australia’s most unforgiving on-field sledger. By David Hopps.
Matthew Hayden has escaped with a reprimand from Cricket Australia after a Brisbane radio interview in which he vilified the Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh as an “obnoxious weed” and happily imagined teaching their spindly, young fast bowler, Ishant Sharma, a lesson in the boxing ring.
Cricket Australia’s reaction to Hayden’s extraordinary verbal attack was rapid, with punishment meted out within a day, but the lenient nature of their sentence will further antagonise the Indians and ensure that a controversial tour ends with recriminations on all sides.
Harbhajan’s four-Test ban for allegedly racially abusing the Australian batsman, Andrew Symonds, during the Sydney Test was overturned on appeal last month, but Hayden is Symonds’ best buddy — the story where they nearly drowned together while fishing in Queensland is part of Australian folklore — and he has now taken his chance of retribution.
He admitted on Brisbane radio that his on-field battles with Harbhajan had persisted for much of his career and claimed to be fed up with India’s complaints about Australian sledging, depicting them as bad losers. “It’s been a bit of a long battle with Harbhajan,” he said. “The first time I ever met him he was the same little obnoxious weed that he is now. His record speaks for itself in cricket. There is a certain line that you can kind of go to and then you know where you push it and he just pushes it all the time. That’s why he has been charged more than anyone that’s ever played in the history of cricket.”
Australia’s sledging culture has insulted Indian self-esteem and they have taken a stand which could yet have long-term ramifications. ICC chief executives meeting in Kuala Lumpur bowed to Indian pressure to clamp down on on-field abuse. The ICC is writing to umpires and match referees to instruct them to take stronger action.
But if the cricket world really is changing, Hayden does not seem to have cottoned on. He revels in his reputation as Australia’s most unforgiving on-field sledger — many England players privately view him as a loudmouthed bully — and now it seems that he intends to rubbish some opponents off the field as well as on it.
Courtesy: Hindu