Tata Nano roll out by Durga Puja

Tata Motors on Saturday said its ambitious Nano project was facing cost overrun but maintained the Rs 1 lakh car could be rolled out from its Singur facility by Durga Puja.
Ravi Kant, MD, Tata Motors, after meeting West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee, told reporters that the entire project had been reworked at the plant site at Singur due to floods last year which had led to the cost escalation.
"We have already sunk in Rs 2000 crore", Kant said, adding earlier the project cost was pegged at Rs 1700 crore.
Stating that Tata Motors was fully committed to the Singur project, Kant said if everything went well as planned, then the Nano car would be rolled out from the plant during Durga Puja."Work is going on breakneck speed to ensure start of trial production as soon as possible...We hope to start during July or August" he said.
Asked whether there was a possibility of Nano being rolled out from any other plant of Tata Motors, Kant said, "Nano will be produced in West Bengal".
Kant had visited the Singur plant yesterday to review progress and held long discussions with suppliers and vendors.The company said Nano is seeing a huge global interest with enquiries pouring up for setting up plants from countries like the US, Latin America, Europe and South East Asia."Nano has received enquiries for setting up plants and distribution networks from countries from US, Latin America, Europe and South East Asia", Ravi Kant, MD, Tata motors, told reporters here."It is great sense of pride for everybody", he said adding "Nano has changed the rules of the market". Maruti brushes aside Nano competitionNew Delhi: As Tata Motors gears up to roll out Nano by Durga Puja, country's largest car maker Maruti Suzuki is confident that the Rs one-lakh wonder will be of no competition to it."It (Nano) increases the market size but it will not cut into the market of people who are buying cars that are in the Rs two-lakh price category. A person who buys a car for Rs two lakh, I believe that there will be very few people who will buy this (Nano) car. It is a new segment," Maruti Suzuki India Chairman R C Bhargava said.He said people who could not buy Maruti 800 would buy Nano as the price difference was huge. Bhargava said more than the existing entry level cars, Nano will affect the two wheelers."So many people who would have remained with motorcycles will but the Nano. Those who could not buy M800 will but Nano. But a person who buys a Maruti 800 or an Alto, I think there will not be a high percentage that will but Nano instead," he said.Casting doubts over maintaining the Rs one lakh tag in the wake of rising steel prices and other input costs, Bhargava said, "The one lakh price will be difficult to maintain."Asked if MSI planned to come out with a competitor to Nano, he said: "Let me make it clear that there is no plan to develop a one-lakh car at Maruti."Commenting on the changes in MSI after government exited the company with Suzuki becoming the majority shareholder, Bhargava said: "It has does affect the style of the management."

Ethiopians for new famine

Last year, the rains were good. Teagistu Gansamo filled the fertile earth of her half-acre plot with maize and bean seeds and, for months afterwards, she and her five children ate well.
A year later, she was squatting on a grubby pink blanket outside a rural health centre deep in Ethiopia's south, holding her listless infant son Harony tightly to her chest.
She walked eight miles through the heat of the day to bring Harony here to Boricha, 180 miles south of the capital Addis Ababa.
When nurses admitted him, into a ward crammed with 38 other severely malnourished babies, the boy with the narrow face and weak smile weighed less than a stone.
Harony, and the others whimpering and crying around him, is one of the 126,000 children that Ethiopia's government and international aid agencies say are at immediate risk of starvation.
Across the country's south and east this year's early rains have failed, and the ghosts of the 1984 famine are haunting the land once again. More than 4.5 million people need emergency food in six of the country's nine regions.
"I am praying to God, I am telling him I will ask no more from him but to keep my son alive," said Mrs Gansamo, who guessed her age at 28.
"For three months, all we have eaten is the roots of plants. Even if the boy improves and I take him back to the village, there is no food there. I think he can fall sick again."
This is not supposed to happen in Ethiopia any more.
Mindful of the disaster of 1984, when more than a million starved to death, and well aware of the erratic effects of global climate change on previously predictable weather patterns, the government has invested heavily in preparing for fresh crises.
But this year a "perfect storm" of factors, fed in large part by soaring world food and fuel prices, has pushed large parts of the country to the edge once again.
Although last year's rains were good, the 13.2 million Ethiopians forced to depend on handouts during the last crisis in 2003, and the 10 million who needed aid in the emergency before that, in 2000, have barely had enough time to recover before this year's rains failed.
The drought that hit this year has withered seeds in the ground. Families have sold what they could: a goat, if they owned one, farm tools if they had them, and used the money to buy food in the market.
But the prices are now beyond most people's reach.
"I tried to bake smaller loaves, but still my prices are too high," said Temesgen Mulugeta, a baker in Boricha.
The United Nations World Food Programme faces the same problem. The near-doubling of basic cereal prices has meant that its 2008 budget needs 60 per cent more money to pay for urgently needed food.
"There has been one shock after another," said Bjorn Ljungqvist, head of the UN children's charity UNICEF in Ethiopia.
"At this stage, it is not reaching a famine situation. But it is a serious but manageable crisis, provided that the resources needed to react to it are mobilised quickly."
The government and aid agencies working here recently published a revised appeal for food and drought assistance. More than £210 million is needed immediately.
So far, they have less than a quarter of that, despite a commitment from Britain to give £10 million. The US has promised £35 million.
"In theory this could be the last food crisis that Ethiopia faces," said Mr Ljungqvist. "As long as all of the government's commendable plans are supported and implemented effectively and quickly."
That optimism seems well placed driving along the dirt roads that wind through southern Ethiopia, where the last impression is one of a region facing famine.
Fields are ploughed, low stalks of green maize bob in the breeze and coffee bushes stand in lines next to the swaying leaves of false banana trees.
But this is a green desert, where farmers work their fields knowing that even if the next rains are plentiful, the food will not be ready for their children to eat until September.
The rains due to start now are forecast to be above average. But what appears to be good news could in fact exacerbate the current crisis.
Army worms, pests which feed on immature crops, flourish with heavy rain. Too much rain fall could also lead to flooding, destroying the promised crop and bringing illness.
For the mothers at Boricha help centre, all that is too far in the future. Today, all that matters is that finally their children are being helped.
"He was always crying for food," said Fatuma Butemo, 31, her 18 month old son Masalu, swaddled in a green blanket in her lap.
"I just fed him leaves and roots to try to fill his stomach and stop his pain. I know it is not good for him but what else can I do? There is nothing else to put in his mouth."

Bill Clinton says Barack Obama must 'kiss my ass' for his support

Bill Clinton is so bitter about Barack Obama's victory over his wife Hillary that he has told friends the Democratic nominee will have to beg for his wholehearted support.
AP
Bill Clinton is still very bitter that Barack Obama beat his wife Hillary
Mr Obama is expected to speak to Mr Clinton for the first time since he won the nomination in the next few days, but campaign insiders say that the former president's future campaign role is a "sticking point" in peace talks with Mrs Clinton's aides.
The Telegraph has learned that the former president's rage is still so great that even loyal allies are shocked by his patronising attitude to Mr Obama, and believe that he risks damaging his own reputation by his intransigence.
A senior Democrat who worked for Mr Clinton has revealed that he recently told friends Mr Obama could "kiss my ass" in return for his support.
A second source said that the former president has kept his distance because he still does not believe Mr Obama can win the election.
Mr Clinton last week issued a tepid statement, through a spokesman, in which he said he "is obviously committed to doing whatever he can and is asked to do to ensure Senator Obama is the next president of the United States ".
Mr Obama was more effusive at his unity event with Mrs Clinton on Friday, speaking fondly of the absent former president, who attended Nelson Mandela's birthday celebrations in London instead. The candidate told the crowd: "I know how much we need both Bill and Hillary Clinton as a party. They have done so much great work. We need them badly."
But his aides said he has so far concentrated on cementing relations with Mrs Clinton first. They say they are content to let relations with Mr Clinton thaw gradually.
It has long been known that Mr Clinton is angry at the way his own reputation was tarnished during the primary battle when several of his comments were interpreted as racist.
But his lingering fury has shocked his friends. The Democrat told the Telegraph: "He's been angry for a while. But everyone thought he would get over it. He hasn't. I've spoken to a couple of people who he's been in contact with and he is mad as hell.
"He's saying he's not going to reach out, that Obama has to come to him. One person told me that Bill said Obama would have to quote kiss my ass close quote, if he wants his support.
"You can't talk like that about Obama - he's the nominee of your party, not some house boy you can order around.
"Hillary's just getting on with it and so should Bill."
Another Democrat said that despite polls showing Mr Obama with a healthy lead over Republican John McCain, Mr Clinton doesn't think he can win.
The party strategist, who was allied to one of the early rivals to Mr Obama and the former First Lady, said Mr Clinton was "very unhopeful" about the nominee's prospects in November.
"Bill Clinton knows the party will unite behind Obama, but he is telling people he doesn't believe Obama can win round voting groups, especially working-class whites, in the swing states," the strategist said.
"He just doesn't think Obama will be able to connect with the voters he needs."
Joe Klein, the author of Primary Colours, a fictionalised account of Mr Clinton's 1992 election, who has known the former president for 20 years, said he also heard that he was "very, very bitter", from people who have spoken with him.
"It's time for him to get over it or go off and do his charitable work. He knows the rules of the road. What's going on now is kind of strange. I think his behaviour is really, really shocking."
Hillary Clinton has put on a united front with Barack Obama

Hurriat riot... at srinagar

More hurriat riot pics

It is coming.... Kuchelan

Rajni is a miracle in indian cinema...

His upcoming film KUCHELAN is not an exception

Indian theatre rights were sold at 65 crore...

Will be showing more than 1000 theatres in 4 continets around the world....

Rajni tooks 20 roles in a single song.......

It is official, Tamil superstar Rajniknath's next film is going to be Kuchelan, a Tamil remake of the Malayalam film Katha Parayumbol directed by M Mohanan that is making waves in Kerala .

Katha Parayumbol, written by Sreenivasan (he also acted in the film), one of the finest script writers in the country, was recently in Chennai to screen the film for Rajnikanth his old classmate. The duo studied together at the Adyar Film Institute. Rajni, floored by its simplicity, wanted to act in the film.
One wonders whether Sreenivasan got the inspiration for the story from Rajni's life itself!
Anyway, the Malayalam original is about a two classmates -- Sreenivasan (barber) and Mammootty in a guest appearance as a superstar) who lose touch and come face to face after some years have passed. What the villagers in the barber's village don't know is that the barber once helped his classmate realise his dream of becoming a filmstar. Now, as the superstar comes to the village to shoot a film, news of their friendship spreads like wildfire.
The highlight of the film is the last thirty minutes of Mammootty's sterling performance.
Now, Rajni will take on Mammootty's role in the Tamil version aptly titled Kuchelan with reference to the lives of Lord Krishna and his poor friend Kuchelan.
Pasupathy, who made a great debut in Kamal's Virumaandi will act as the barber while Simran will take on Meena's role (barber's wife).
Co-produced by Seven Arts and K Balachander's Kavithalaya, the Tamil version will be directed by P Vasu, who remade Manichitrathazhu in Tamil as Chandramukhi.
P Vasu has clarified that he would make necessary changes with Tamil audience in mind like he did in Chandramukhi.
And whether this means that the guest role of the superstar will undergo a change, only time will tell.

Superstar,Nayan as MGR,Jayalalitha

Inside reports say that the pyramid sets erected and makeover for Superstar and Nayantara would resemble 'Ninaithaen Vandhaai Nooru Vayadhu' song from 'Kaavalkaaran' where MGR and Jayalalitha sung the duet. MGR's appearance was like an Egypt King and Jaya's was that of a Queen. (A wonderful song!) Just try to recall the pyramid settings of that song. Kuselan's would look like that. The salimkumar's role will be done by Vadivel....

R S Gavai appointed Governor of Kerala

Dalit as State Governor
Dalit leader Ramkrishnan Suryabhan Gavai, who has been appointed Governor of Kerala, was holding the same post in Bihar earlier.
He is exchanging places with R L Bhatia.
Mr Gavai, a former Republican Party of India MP, had succeeded Buta Singh in Bihar, who resigned in the wake of an adverse Supreme Court judgement that questioned his recommendation to dissolve the state assembly in March 2005.

Graduated from Vidarbha Mahavidyalay, Nagpur University, Amravati, he got elected to Maharashtra Legislative Assembly in 1964 and served the state in various positions till 1994.

He was a member of Maharashtra Legislative Council from 1964-94, then deputy chairman from 1968-78, Chaiman from 1978-84, and leader of the opposition in the State Assembly from from 1986-88.

He was elected to 12th Lok Sabha in 1998 and served as a menmber of Committee on Urban and Rural Development and Consultative Committee, Ministry of Agriculture.

Mr Gavai also participated in the freedom struggle and was a Vice-President of the Executive Committee of World Fellowship of Buddhists.

Kashmir on fire...

Streets of srinagar and adjecent towns are on fire... The real communal fire.
All the riot started from the action of the state Government to allote 40 acre land in Baltal, one of the palce where the shortest route to perform the Amarnath Yatra starts, to the Amarnath Shrine Board (ASB). The land was handed over to fecilitate the pilgrims with temporary facilities like bathrooms, Toilets (Eco friendly, not like in Sabarimala, kerala) and tents for the pilgrims.

The land is used without any sanction from Government, for the same purpose for last 50 years.
The ASB's chief is the state Governor and the chief minister is one of the member.
Amarnath is the one of the holiest pilgrim spot in the world for Hindus. An Ice siva lingam is anturally formed in the month of march and it begens to melt slowly. The pilgrimage starts from the month of May end and lasts for around 45 days. Around 5,000 pilgrims are permitted to do their yathra daily.
The seperatist group, hurriat, calls the move of donation o the land to ASB as a move to demolish the fragile ecology of himalayas. but behind the camera, they tells that this move is aimed in the upcoming state assembly election, to win vote of the minority hindu community and to reinstall the hindus to the himalayan vally, who quit their assets following the life threat from muslims.
I sware there is no hndu located inthe kashmir vally, except those who are in armed forces.

The seperatists torched hindu's houses and shopes, they threatened to kill, and sampled it.. so around 20 years ago hindu's quit the vally. In response, in jammu, where hindu community is dominated, and the whole food chain to the kashmir vally starts, started "road roko" agitation in support of the move to donate land to ASB and against the hurriath atrocities.
Let us join the hindus.....
As our forefathers centuries ago was the residents of the vally....
and I have personnaly experienced the amarnath....
KASHMIR is the property of INDIA.... And HINDUS.
Jai HIND.