Where Are The Australians, Crowd?

Consequent to a game of cricket played for a little over four days at Mohali, three things transpired from it - 1) Haroon Lorgat's lament,^{Express India} 2) India's massacre of Australia,^{Biggest by Runs} and 3) good friend Scorpi gained opportunity to narrate to us an Australian fan's awestruck discovery of the real world, or almost real world.^CricketFizz That's a lot from a game of cricket and best begin with the game.

Like all recent victories India has registered, this one too bore the same characteristics. If one were to try and pick out the match-winner as per the usual India tradition, it would take one ages and much hair-splitting semantics without a convincing conclusion. That's because everyone contributed throughout the game, his important mite, towards the greater collective good of all

more- http://tcwj.blogspot.com/

India has successfully launched its first mission to the Moon.

The unmanned Chandrayaan 1 spacecraft blasted off smoothly from a launch pad in southern Andhra Pradesh to embark on a two-year mission of exploration.

The robotic probe will orbit the Moon, compiling a 3-D atlas of the lunar surface and mapping the distribution of elements and minerals.

The launch is regarded as a major step for India as it seeks to keep pace with other space-faring nations in Asia.

http://www.redstate.com/diaries/redstate/2008/oct/21/india-launches-first-lunar-mission/

Happy Diwali

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Raj Thakre trumpet of Bihari migrant

Recent related post (Feb 11, 2008) is: Mumbai political Tamasha (drama) .

In recent 1st anniversary function, Raj Thakre said to Bihari migrant “Behave correctly”.
He seemed very aggressive about migrant worker from north India.
I will only say instead of raising such voice he should do something about poor in south Maharashtra (Vdharva region). He and their parent party must not distract people attention from their failure in tackling the real issue. He with his parent party is in Municipal Corporation from last ten years. He just one year before parted way from Shiv Sena. So he and their parent party were in a position to do something for them or at least raise voice for them.

In Vidarbha region thousands of farmers have committed suicide and still doing so. Vidarbha region are demanding separate state. Is that the reason for not giving head there? If yes, may be they also become migrant in eye of Raj Thakre and Shiv Sena.

Just few months back in Municipal election they have asked for votes from all section including Hindi speaking voters. Now after only two months they are behaving like this.

Raj Thakre must get lesson from Nitish Kumar (Current Bihar Chief Minister), who after becoming CM said, “I will work under constitution, and not work against any one due to personal reason. (They are referring to past Bihar CM, who is famous for mitigating the image of Bihari people. If Nitish Kumar have done bad or tried to do some bad then probably people of Bihar has also supported them against past Bihar CM).

http://only-your-views.blogspot.com/2007/03/raj-thakre-trumpet-of-bihari-migrant.html

No insurance cover for Chandrayaan-1

MUMBAI: India’s most ambitious space programme, the Chandrayaan-1 project, which aims to send a spacecraft to moon, will lift off on October 22 without any insurance cover. The cost of India’s first unmanned mission to the moon is Rs 386 crore, including Rs 100 crore for establishing Indian Deep Space Network near Bangalore that would receive the signals from the satellites.

An Indian Space Research Organisation official told ET from Bangalore that as Chandrayaan-1 is a scientific project, it would not require any insurance cover. “We have not taken any cover for this project,” S Satish, spokesperson of ISRO said. The Made-in-India rocket bearing the lunar spacecraft will lift off as per schedule provided the weather is right. As per the plan, the 1.5-ton Chandrayaan spacecraft will take approximately eight days to travel about 240,000 miles before reaching its final orbit 60 miles above the surface of the moon. A crash landing of a lunar vehicle on the moon's surface is also planned.

According to insurance officials the cost of insuring space launches is extremely high due to high rate of failure. Also the risk almost entirely reinsured since Indian markets do not have the depth to cover launches on their own. Because of the high rate of failure the premium rates vary between 25-33% of the sum insured. “ISRO has a good track record of launches and can go for self insurance,” the official said.

“In satellite launches, the claims are either zero or 100% since the launch is either a success or a failure,” said Kamesh Goyal, country head of German insurer Allianz in India. Allianz's group company Spaceco based in France which specialises in satellite insurance and has participated in many space programes in the past. Insurance of space launches has been gaining importance because of the growing use of satellite communication in most businesses — ranging from stock exchanges, banks, television channels and telecom companies.

While the satellite launch agency is interested only in the successful launch of the satellite, companies have an interest in the satellites remaining during their expected lifespan. In India, New India has been issuing policies to cover satellite launches right from 1980 with INSAT-2E. However, ISRO has been insuring only those satellites it places using other's launch vehicles such as France's Ariane. It has not gone for a cover for Indian launches. India's last major launch which aimed to place Insat 4C failed in July ‘06 after the Geo-Synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle developed a snag.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-3578074,prtpage-1.cms

Me panic? I’m not panicking! Who is panicking?

Would someone please remind folks that it’s Friday and we all deserve a relaxing weekend? I for one will be doing my usual Saturday morning Yoga. But it’s nasty out there - the contagion has spread, and panic is now the correct adjective.

The overnight Dow crash hit Asia hard - the Sensex is down at least 9 percent and looks like it’s headed for a holiday south of 10,000, the rupee has hit an all time low and in Japan the Nikkei tumbled another 10 percent. Looks like that decision to let Lehman go bust set off the mother of all chain reactions…and Indian markets may be headed back to 2006 levels.

More- http://blogs.reuters.com/india/2008/10/10/me-panic-im-not-panicking-who-is-panicking/

Zardari says India is not a threat to Pakistan

Pakistan’s new President Asif Ali Zardari is starting to challenge quite a few long-held positions.

India, he told the Wall Street Journal in an interview published over the weekend, ”has never been a threat to Pakistan.” For a country that has fought three wars with India, including one in 1971 that ended in humiliation and the birth of Bangladesh from what was East Pakistan, these are remarkable words.

Indeed for a country that said it would rather eat grass in order to pay to develop nuclear bombs if India did so, the idea that India is not a threat is a whole game-changer.

Is that what Zardari, a businessmen who many see as without the baggage that politicians carry, has set himself to do ? He is even more provocative on Kashmir, speaking of the militant Islamic groups that operate there as “terrorists”.

More- http://blogs.reuters.com/pakistan/category/uncategorized/

Zardari criticised for calling Kashmir militants 'terrorists'

ISLAMABAD: Maulana Fazlur Rehman, chairman of Pakistan's parliamentary committee on Kashmir and president of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam party, has criticised President Asif Ali Zardari for terming militants operating in Kashmir as "terrorists" and for saying that India has never been a threat to Pakistan. ( See Ninan’s cartoon )

"Zardari is our president but he is inexperienced and needs to know the right choice of words," Rehman told reporters here.

In an interview with Wall Street Journal (WSJ) columnist Bret Stephens, Zardari said the militants in Kashmir were "terrorists", though previous regimes in Pakistan called them freedom fighters. He added that India had never been a threat to his country.

"I believe Zardari's statement that India was never a threat to Pakistan is to have better future relations with the neighbouring country," said Rehman.

In his last press conference, former president Pervez Musharraf had termed the militants as "freedom fighters", saying that Pakistan will continue "moral and diplomatic" support to their cause.

The WSJ quoted Zardari as saying: "I, for one, and our democratic government is not scared of Indian influence abroad."

Zardari also said that he has no objection to the India-US nuclear cooperation pact, so long as Pakistan is treated "at par".

"Why would we begrudge the largest democracy in the world getting friendly with one of the oldest democracies in the world?"

He noted that "there is no other economic survival for nations like us. We have to trade with our neighbours first".

Rehman, who is part of the coalition government in the centre, said he will demand that Zardari change the words he used for the Kashmiri militants.

"I am confident that the president will rephrase his words," he said.

Rehman said that Pakistan considers Kashmir a disputed territory and "Pakistanis have always respected the freedom struggle of their Kashmiri brothers".

Zardari's wife and former Pakistan prime minister Benazir Bhutto was accused of removing "Kashmir House" boards from the federal capital when former Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi visited Pakistan.

Rehman, who was in opposition then, had stated that Bhutto did so to appease the Indian leader.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-3565185,prtpage-1.cms