148 dead in Rajasthan stampede, Rajasthan stampede yet another tragedy

148 people are dead and about 160 greviously injured in a major stampede in the Chamunda Devi temple in Jodhpur at the start of Navaratra festival on Tuesday.The cause of the stampede at the temple in a hillock in the famous Jodhpur Fort was not known(come back for more).Of the 40 dead, 30 bodies have been sent to Mahatma Gandhi Hospital and the remaining 10 were sent to Mathura Das Hospital. The devotees in huge numbers, mostly women, had gathered at the temple from early on Tuesday morning for celebrating the Navratra festival starting from Friday. It is believed that rumors of a bomb explosive triggered the stampede.

Few ladies toilets in India

Have you ever wondered why there are few ladies toilets in India? Even the cities have less facilities for women to answer the call of nature in slum area. It can be very embarrassing and humiliating. The fault lies with the authorities who are taking a casual attitude to construction or maintaining of public toilets for ladies. Also most women generally prefer to restrain themselves from using public loos and relieve themselves in the comforts of their homes rather than use a public facility, unless it is urgent. The civic authorities also take this perspective and have adopted a casual, lethargic attitude to constructing public ladies toilets. Also women hesitate using them because the condition of the public loos in India, even the metros; are in a dismal, unhygienic state. Plainly said, since users are less, even the authorities are maintain a casual stand and do not do much to maintain the condition of these loos. Holding back on the call of nature can be detrimental to the health if the journey is long and there is not public facility in the vicinity In fact, Shahrukh Khan, the popular Bollywood actor has publicly stated that he would like to create a lot of hygienic public toilets for women as one of his future endeavors.

Why Indians should drink less alcohol

There is no universal limit for safe alcohol consumption. Cardiologists may recommend 2 pegs a day for a healthy heart but that applies to the West and not to Indians. We have relatively smaller built compared to the people in the West and also our bodies do not appear to have the capacity to absorb as much alcohol as Westerners do. Ideally we should consume a peg a day or less. This kind of prescribed limit is applicable to men but for women, there are no specific recommendations. Also bear in mind that Indians generally have poor nutrition, we do not eat the right food after drinking.

Is India heading the Iraq, Bosnia way? bomb blasts in 2008?

If barely a day goes in Iraq or Bosnia without military attacks and car bombings, you can assume that it is a peaceful day for them. India, one of the peaceful countries is the world is suffering from the highest number of terrorist attacks and bombings the country has ever seen in 2008.

Flashback to the serial bomb blasts on March 12’ 1993 in Mumbai which gave rise to the term ‘serial blasts’. Since then intermittently, there has been terrorist attacks in various parts of the country, mainly in Mumbai, the commercial capital of the country, the second biggest one being the one on July 11, 2006 where bombs exploded in the first class compartments of suburban Mumbai trains, resulting in heavy loss of life and limb.

Two years later in 2008, India been plagued with bomb threats and bomb blasts by terrorists who resort to emailing TV stations before and soon after commuting the act. Though the terrorist call themselves Indian mujahedeen, Indian police have deciphered IM as a non entity working under the garb of SIMI(Students Islamic Movement of India. Take IM of SIMI and you get Islamic Mujahadeen. The police are taking bomb threats very seriously and are on the massive manhurt to nab the terrorists of the Delhi blasts At the time of writing, an email has been sent to media organizations in Mumbai to blow up three railways stations before the end of the day. As a result, Mumbai is witnessing the highest security check, it has ever witnessed in its history today. Even if it is a prank, the police cannot afford to take any chances.

Here are the recent ten bomb blasts and terrorist attacks that shook the country in three years (sourced from DNA and Outlook India)
September 29, 2008:
A series of powerful explosions ripped through crowded market areas in New Delhi, killing at least 50 people as shoppers in the Indian capital were gearing up for a major Hindu holiday.
July 26, 2008:
Serial blasts in Ahmedabad kill close to 45 and injure over 100
July 25, 2008:
Seven blasts strike the IT city of Bangalore killing at least two people and wounding at least 20.
May 2008:
Eight serial blasts rock Jaipur in a span of 12 minutes leaving 65 dead and over 150 injured.
January 2008:
Terrorist attack on CRPF camp in Rampur kills eight.
November 2007:
15 people killed in seven well-synchronised explosions near court premises in three cities of Uttar Pradesh -- Lucknow, Varanasi and Faizabad.
October 2007:
2 killed in a blast inside Ajmer Sharif shrine during Ramadan, in Rajasthan.
August 2007:
30 dead, 60 hurt in Hyderabad 'terror' strike.
May 2007:
A bomb at Mecca mosque in Hyderabad kills 11 people.
February 2007:
Two bombs explode aboard a train bound from India to Pakistan, burning to death at least 66 passengers, most of them Pakistanis.
September 2006:
30 dead and 100 hurt in twin blasts at a mosque in Malegaon.
July 2006:
Seven bombs on Mumbai's trains kill over 200 and injure 700 others.
March 2006:
Twin bombings at a train station and a temple in Varanasi kill 20 people.
October 2005:
Three bombs placed in busy New Delhi markets a day before Diwali kill 62 people and injured hundreds.

India in the heart of a financial tsunami, US slump makes India see red

Manic Monday saw the US financial market downsliding to its worst tumble since 9/11 with three major financial tragedies: the bankruptcy of Lehman brothers, the sale of Merrill Lynch and the largest insurer AIG being downgraded by credit rating agencies.

How does India suffer from the US financial collapse? The US financial markets have direct co-relation with Indian banking systems, which means liquidity; growth rates, risk appetitie and ability to borrow in India will suffer. The business sentiments in India have already been low following the inflation but it has been further hit due to the global economic slowdown. The areas that will be affected are jobs, investment and corporate expansion plans. The three major sectors that have been hit are real estate, infrastructure and power, all three of being ambitious with their growth and expansion plans. Lehmann Brother, Merrill Lynch and AIG had stakes in these fields. ICICI bank stands to lose RS. 375 crores or 57 million pounds as the Lehman Brothers have filed for bankruptcy. The subsidiary of the ICICI bank had invested 57 million pounds in the bonds of Lehman brothers.

TATA AIG-running for protection cover
AIG which has suffered heavy losses has two types of insurances in tie-ups with Tata: general and life. Though the prices of the crude oil prices have dropped, but the rupee decline has not made any good. AIG has stated that they it would sell its assets to raise $20 billion but it does require additional funding. But it will be difficult because the entire world in general is going through a financial crisis

Global liquidity crunch in most likelihood will put stress on big ticket acquisitions. In this respect, Indian companies will look out for niche acquisitions or smaller companies for tie-ups depending on the strategy they make.

Another financial jolt to the Indian economy has been the state of the rupee which has ended at a two year low of 46.89 against the dollar for reasons of worries over asset flows from the equity markets in emerging economies. This means those companies which may have borrowed in dollar amounts will find it expensive to service the debt, with interest payments rising substantially, hitting their profitability in the process. The RBI will look at hiking the interest s of foreign currency deposits.

4 Indians among the top 10 richest people in the world

----> Yeh paisa bolta hain!



There are four people from India who are in the list of the top 10 richest men in the world. Lakshmi Mittal stands proud at number 4 as the fourth richest man in the world with a net wealth of $45 billion. The fifth and sixth positions are taken by the Ambani brothers. Mukesh Ambani is valued at $43 billion while Anil Ambani has amassed $42 billion. The 8th position is also held by an Indian, K.P. Singh , the real estate baron, at $30 billion.

US has the highest number of billionaires in the world, 469 to be precise. This is followed by Russia having 87 billionaires and Germany having 59 billionaires. India has the fourth highest billionaires in the world with a total of 53 billionaires. Believe it or not, India also has the maximum share in the top 10 wealthiest people

Rahul Mahajan vs Monica Bedi -Big Boss 2

Big Boss 2 in Colors channel is gearing up in full form as it goes well on its way to the third week. The participants are getting bitchier and the cold war is turning into a heat wave. Rahul Mahajan who is being called everything from skirtchaser to women’s special is now on the hot list again to be voted out. Rahul Mahajan has been thought of being extra pompous, but he also has fans and some participants(read Payal Rohatgi and Monica Bedi) who root for him.

The funny thing is the closed group of Rahul Mahajan, Monica Bedi and Rakhi Vijan has always caught the ire of other participants who wanted them out. While the contest between Rakhi and Rahul resulted in Rakhi being voted out by the public, this week, one of them, either Monica Bedi and Rahul Mahajan will be voted out While Monica has appeared honest and simple, she was targeted by fellow participants for her affinity to Rahul Mahajan.

Whom do you think will be shown the door in this week’s Big Boss 2?