Take a look at your daily routine. You get up in morning go to work , perform your daily task , meet your colleagues and business associates, return home by evening , enjoy few moments with your family and then go to bed. You might add some entertainment & recreation to the above schedule . Adding a few hours to meet your relatives & attending social gathering would make it even more cumbersome to manage. You have clean surroundings to live in , enough to eat and drink and freedom of choice.

Now imagine a situation where you spend most of your time captivated in a cage thats just fits your size. You do not get clean water to drink. You do not have enough food to quench your hunger. You are not allowed to socialize. If by chance you oppose to follow your boss you would be treated by electric shocks and hit hard with sticks. You really do not have any freedom of choice. Nightmare ! That is what it is for many of us.

Are you aware that many beings live through that nightmare each day just to entertain us. These beings are none other than our favorite circus animals. We see them performing various tricks to delight us but to their poor destiny all they get for rendering their expert services is food low on nutrition, electric shocks, dirty water and no freedom. But we humans would conveniently ignore all this and clap at their marvelous performance day after day.

Ever thought those animals need proper living conditions, food to eat and freedom too. What does your applause get them ? If they do not even get what they need for living their lives. They are better of in jungles exploring the unknown by themselves. We ain’t doing them a favor by keeping them captivated for our amusement. Even the law has abolished the business of circus but still it is run. How and why ? It runs because we foolish people give them business day after day. Stop giving these in-humane circuses any business and they would stop captivating anymore animals. At least we can gift these animals there own life if not a livelihood .

Boycott the circus now ! There are many ways to create awareness if you want to. Even the gorgeous shilpa shetty stood up to support the cause. Now its our turn join hands now. Report if you see a circus running in your area. Talk about the issue to your friends nothing works better than more and more people being actively aware.

Bell helicopter has recently put in a bid for supplying 197 reconnaissances and observation copters to the Indian Army.

Reports say that the organization is betting big on the civilian market. Bell copter holds over 50% share in this market.

It is expecting an overall sale of $200m in coming five to six years in India.

In the domestic civilian market of 120 helicopters, India possesses around 70 Bell aircraft. The growth of 15% in a year is expected & this is much higher than what most countries enjoy worldwide.

It is predicted that India will possess 81 Bells by first quarter of 2007. Currently, the country has around 20 belt copters.

In absolute numbers, the country’s commercial helicopter market would peak at 365 units & the military at 257 units. Bell is competing with Euro copter to sell its 407-shen ships to the Army & has offered to set up a separate assembly line for building them at its factory at Mirabel, Canada

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has set up a committee to examine what were considered to be unfair levies by banks for the services they provide.

“The RBI has constituted a working group including nominees of Indian Banks’ Associations (IBA) and representatives of customers to formulate a scheme for insuring reasonableness of bank charges”, said RBI Deputy Governor Usha Thorat, while inaugurating Financial Planning Congress 2006 here.

She said to incorporate this in the fair practices code, the compliance of which will be monitored by the Banking Codes and Standards Board of India (BCSBI).

The BCSBI has become operational since March 2006 as autonomous and independent body working for improving the quality of customer services by the Indian banking system.

RBI has recently issued instructions to banks making it obligatory for them to display and continue to keep updated, in their offices and branches as also in their website, the details of various charges in a format prescribed by it.

With greater penetration of formal financial services into the economy and society, there is a need for ensuring evolution and adherence to codes and standards in delivering financial services to the financially excluded, she said.

Thorat said RBI has recently revamped Banking Ombudsman Scheme to enlarge its extent and scope of authority and function to specifically cover redressal of grievances against deficiency in banking services.

It functions as an arbitrator in respect of any dispute with mutual consent of both the parties provided that the value of the claim in such dispute does not exceed Rs 10 lakh. PTI

In a setback to Tatas owned VSNL, telecom tribunal TDSAT has rejected its petition against the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India and Department of Telecommunication and held that long distance calling cards sold by the company was illegal.

“We have come to the conclusion that the appellant (VSNL) is not authorised to provide the service of calling cards for making out-bound long distance calls under the conditions and clauses provided by national long distance or international long distance licence,” said Justice N Santosh Hegde, Chairman of the TDSAT.

“This service can only be provided under the license of basic service operator or unified access service license,” he said.

” By introducing this service, the appellant (VSNL) is directly accessing these subscribers, which is not allowed as per the licence condition,” the tribunal observed further.

On March 21, 2005 telecom regulator TRAI asked the VSNL to stop long distance calling cards on the ground that VSNL is getting direct access to the consumers, which was against the license condition. It was also not proving any data regarding the caller’s identification and was thereby denying the country’s security agencies from intercepting the calls.

Later, VSNL challenged TRAI’s notification before the tribunal, which (TDSAT) during the proceedings also summoned DoT and made it a party in the case on the grounds that TRAI acted on its directions. PTI

People suffering from Malnutrition and many dying due to hunger in different parts of the world has made many contemplate on the shortage of food in the world. However, the question whether global food shortage exists or not is still on unsolved mystery.

If we talk about the world agriculture scenario, reports have made apparent that it has so far been capable to produce enough food to meet the needs of 6.5 billion people. There have been proofs that state the decline in the proportion & number of undernourished people in the last two decades.

Food shortage is an obsolete matter now due to the advances in seed (HYVs), water (micro irrigation) & agrochemical usage across the developing countries. These techniques have facilitated the sufficient production of food grains all over the world. Heavy carry-over stocks of cereals in the past have ensured depressed food grain commodity prices & easy availability of grain.

There does not seem to be a possibility of a catastrophe like global food shortage for the next two decades.

In countries like India, China and parts of south Asia & Middle East, there have been a tremendous increase in population and also an increase in income. Hence most people residing in these countries have developed charging food habits that, in turn has resulted into creating supply constraints for food production globally.

Distressed farmers can now enjoy the whiff of fresh air as the Reserve Bank of India has organized a working group that would suggest effective measures to assist them.

The group will provide financial counseling services to these farmers. RBI has also introduced a specific credit guarantee scheme under the Deposit insurance & credit guarantee corporation of India (DICGC) Act for distressed farmers.

The working group will analyze the problems of farmer and delineate the circumstances under which a farmer can be treated as a distressed farmer. This will be attributed by the result based on the recent studies on such farmers. It will also suggest the measures for offering adequate & prompt assistance to provide financial counseling & risk mitigant for distressed farmers.

The report group will be submitted by the group on September 30, 2006.

The working group will be headed by proof SS Johl. SS Johl is the vice chairman to Punjab state planning board.

There is a great hope that has been laid on this working group. It is believed that farmers who have been much distressed due to the financial stress for so many years would now experience great relief with the help of financial counseling & special credit guarantee scheme offered by the working group.

Planning a vacation in the United Kingdom has become much easier and better this time. Kudos to the British High Commission as it is now extending its fast track business express visa program.

The program will select group of travel agents for issue of tourist visa this summer. Last minute holiday to Britain will now be an easy affair for the travelers. The plan includes a provision of visa to tourists in a day and that too, without having to make a visit to the Visa office.

Around 220 companies have already registered themselves with the business express program.

The fast track service has been facilitated by an adept accurate & promote online program. This online service aims to facilitate the process of applying visa for the tourists to a great extent.

Under this program, the documents reach BHC online through VKS, the agency to which UK Visas have been outsourced and get cleared on the same day within a few hours.

The effort is a step taken to streamline the system for tourists aspiring to visit to the UK by putting the application process online.

Officials expect a rise of 15-20 percent in the number of Visas to be issued this year as compared to the year gone-by. Last year around 3,34,000 visas were issued.

After reading & hearing a lot on the latest yardstick of government possibly to uplift “harijans� or the OBC classes I feel that the country has lost its power of democracy. An honest and true democracy is where the citizens decide what rules they ought to follow. But to my astonishment the democracy of our country is now a slave of handful of politicians. Every elections these politicians are elected by common men & women with an hope that they will certainly listen to their grievances. However, all their dreams are shattered when instances like this happen. The recent declaration by the government that reserves a quota in the medicinal sector jobs for OBC group is in my opinion a very shallow outlook of the decision makers.

Medicine is a field that secures lives. Anyone who works in that field must be responsible and learned enough to tackle problems related to human lives. By securing the quota for the OBC classes we might present them a chance to move ahead in this field & make them feel at par with others. But at the same time we are also compromising with the future of our own country.

It is a proven fact that if you get something without effort you do not realize its importance. This fact is stronger in case of students who are totally free minded and prefer enjoying more than studying. They whole heartedly believe in the saying “ All work & no play makes jack a dull boy�. Most of them find quick methods to score more marks. Thus, if in such a case we provide them with a chance that secures their vacancies they are least likely to study hard. This would certainly show its impact on future generations. By securing the jobs for OBC group are not we reducing his competitiveness & his desire to excel among others ? Are not we inculcating flowery dreams of secure future which is most likely not to continue if he has not got sound theoretical & practical knowledge of field ? Why are the men & women in power looking at just positive side & not considering the whole gamut of psychological mind sets that such an act would create.

“Are we as a country in a condition to let our health practices be implemented by physicians who themselves have limited knowledge about the field ? “

“Are we as a country ready to compromise on the health of our families, relatives , friends and fellow citizens ?�

We are seeing students between 17 to 25 years of age protest fearlessly against the decision & if still decision makers do not get a hint. I feel there is an immediate need of re-electing our ministers from top to bottom.

The face of the country has changed since women liberalization. Today there are a number of females you would encounter in professional arena. No doubt they are giving though competition to men. As the generation become literate they also have become open to the idea of women contributing to the household income. Not only for the sole reason of financial contribution but also to retain their independence & self image women have started moving out to earn. Whether politics or movies or business women can be seen actively working along with men. In fact they perform better in certain situations. They have the ability that gives many men a complex about themselves.

Traditionally women had been expected to manage household but today as the level of education rises there are more women competing against men. This is no more limited to the routine 9 to 6 jobs but liberalized women of country are working in night shifts too. A number of top multinational call centers appoint women employees equal in number with the male employees. Even the technology sector of that matter is not lagging far away there are a lot of women programmers & even system administrators. Even the sectors like modeling, acting & airlines are booming with large number of female employees. Today our country has come miles ahead from the point where women were expected to stay indoors & manage kids.

Look at famous figures like Ritu Beri, Shobha De, Aishwarya Rai all of them have proved their metal in their respective fields. I strongly believe that today the role of women is much more than man. They manage households along with professions as compared to men who are restricted professionally only.

Lets take a simple example where you have to pay the phone bill of your home. The working women of today would not look upon their husbands to help them out with it rather they would go to the website swipe their credit card or call the customer care executives to collect the payment. This work they would do from their office itself. After work in a usual evening they would go an manage with cooking and other household activities. Now that is what i call the super women of today ! So for all the beautiful ladies out there ……. “ keep up the good work ! You rock ! “

Activists of the All India Christian Minorities Committee, Prajapita Mahasabha and the Pro-Reservation Front led by Dalit leader Udit Raj engaged in a verbal duel with the 100 students of five premier medical colleges who have been on hunger strike at AIIMS since Sunday.

Activists of the OBC Mahapanchayat and All India Pasmanda Muslim Mahaj staged a sit-in at Jantar Mantar here to demand implementation of the proposed 27 per cent quota for OBCs in elite educational institutions. Over 400 activists of the Mahatma Phule Samta Parishad, the outfit for OBCs floated by NCP leader and Maharashtra Minister Chhagan Bhujbal, also courted arrest after a demonstration in Mumbai.

As medical students and junior doctors continued their protests in Delhi, Bihar, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Goa, Tripura, Madhya Pradesh and other states, Services in state-run hospitals in the national capital and some other places continued to be severely affected today as resident doctors abstained from work despite the government’s threat to act against them.

Pro-reservation bodies like the OBC Mahapanchayat joined the fray and staged rallies in support of the proposed quota, saying it was the only way to ensure quality education for poor students.

In most places, emergency services and out patient departments were maintained by senior doctors and house surgeons as thousands of patients faced problems in hospitals attached to government medical colleges. Reports PTI.