As Asia rebounds, India set to grow faster in 2010: IMF

As Asia rebounds rapidly from the depth of the global crisis, India's growth is expected to accelerate to 6.5 per cent in 2010 from 5.33 percent in 2009 on the back of strong domestic demand, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said.

"In particular, the normalisation of financial market conditions is expected to support a rebound of private investment, sustaining demand even as the fiscal stimulus wanes," it said in the latest Regional Economic Outlook (REO) for Asia and the Pacific, released in Seoul Thursday.

Noting that there will continue to be significant differences in growth patterns within the region, IMF forecast Asia's growth as a whole to accelerate to 5.75 per cent in 2010 from 2.75 percent in 2009, both higher than previously projected.

"The primary driver of Asia's recovery has been a progressive return towards normalcy following the abrupt collapse in global trade and finance at the end of 2008," the report said.

"Just as the US downturn triggered an outsized fall in Asia's GDP because international trade and finance froze, now their normalisation is generating an outsized Asian upturn."

This development confirms that Asia has not decoupled from the rest of the world, the REO noted.

Noting that global conditions are expected to continue to improve gradually in 2010, the report forecasts that output in the large G7 economies would grow by 1.25 per cent next year, recouping only half the contraction estimated for 2009, because private demand in these countries remains constrained by the legacy of the crisis.

Keeping Your Secrets Safe in a World Gone Social

Social networking continues to play an important part of our cultural growth, offering an accessible outlet for expression and a means to explore greater social interactions within a broader community.

These platforms allow both anonymous and open communications with the world, giving us a voice and a forum to share our thoughts publicly and privately. However, with the growing threat of identity theft and other cybercrimes, social networks also present a new set of risks.

Social networks are not inherently evil. On the contrary, most social networks –Facebook and linkedIn for example -- are conscious of both privacy and security. However, they are a community; like all communities, they have varied populations, including some who would prey on the weak.

Some of these opportunists are benign, such as the growing community of corporate marketers who have made a valiant attempt to commercialize this new medium. Some are not.

Making sure that the networks themselves are safe requires the use of various monitoring and management solutions, and a fairly competent IS staff -- nothing new here, and some of the larger providers actually have above-average security operations.

Still, keeping the end-users of social networking services safe depends on something much more difficult to control: the end-users' behavior.

Google expands availability of its free voice mail

SAN FRANCISCO -

Google Inc. wants to answer your mobile phone calls when you can't or just don't want to talk.

In its latest bid to become a bigger player in telecommunications, the Internet search leader is giving people a chance to have its free voice mail service answer calls to their cell phones. The offering was introduced Tuesday.

The voice mail feature is part of Google Voice, a fledging service striving to become a hub for phone calls to people's mobile, home and office numbers.

Taking advantage of all of its tools requires getting a new number from Google Voice, a leap that many people aren't ready to make.

The Young and the Twitterless

As a general age group, young adults and teens have been relatively slow to warm to Twitter. Some, of course, are crazy about the microblogging service, but others either don't see the point or feel their social media cup already runneth over. It's a rare instance of young people adopting an Internet application after many of their older counterparts have already done so.

CBI digs up Rajus’ accounts in Mauritius

HYDERABAD: A top Indian team including sleuths from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has zeroed in on six bank accounts in Mauritius

linked to alleged money laundering by B Ramalinga Raju, prime accused in the Satyam scam, and his family members.
The team, headed by CBI DIG V V Lakshminarayana, included an RBI officer, and left for Mauritius on October 18, sources told STOI on Saturday. “In all, there is at least Rs 600 crore in the six accounts in Mauritius linked to the Satyam scam and the figure can rise by the time the investigations are over,” the sources said.

During the course of its investigations in the Satyam scam, the CBI discovered that the scam money was either stashed in foreign bank accounts or was being diverted back to India through these accounts. Accordingly, the CBI special court sent letters rogatory to six countries where the bank accounts linked to the scam were said to be in operation. Apart from Mauritius, the letters rogatory were sent to courts in the US, UK, Belgium, British Isles and Singapore. “The purpose of sending the letters rogatory was to request the courts in these countries to record the statements of the account holders and other connected persons and convey the same to the special CBI court in Hyderabad,” the sources said. The CBI team left for Mauritius after the court there communicated that it had recorded the statements of the account holders and others as sought by the Indian investigating agency. “The purpose of taking the RBI officer was to check the banking norms and procedures in Mauritius and assist the CBI in tracing the money trail,” the sources added.

The Interpol is assisting the CBI in unearthing the foreign link in the Satyam scam, the sources said, and added that the CBI teams will visit the other countries where such bank accounts are alleged to exist as soon as the courts respond to the letters rogatory.

By establishing the foreign link in the Satyam scam, the CBI hopes to prove its case that the Raju family had floated almost 325 alleged benami companies and that the foreign accounts acted as conduits to divert the money from Satyam only to be re-routed to these fictitious companies and then laundered further for purchasing land and property in and around Hyderabad. The CBI team is scheduled to return to Hyderabad on Sunday.

China's 'new front' on Indo-Nepal border

BAHRAICH: The Chinese clamour over Arunachal Pradesh has raised many eyebrows in India. Even as the meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh

and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao in Thailand on Saturday was being looked at as an effort to cool down the tension between the neighbouring countries, the Dragon nation has opened another anti-India front. This time in Nepal.

Silently but speedily China is spreading its wings in the erstwhile Hindu kingdom, mainly to unleash anti-India propaganda. Besides acquiring some major construction projects in Nepal, the Chinese are also making their presence felt by opening language centres in Nepali cities on the Indo-Nepal border. These centres are teaching Chinese language. But, what raises suspicions on Chinese intentions is the fact that these centres are open only for Nepali citizens.

The surge in Chinese activities in the neighbour country is a matter of concern for India which is already fighting terrorism being pushed into the country from Pakistan. It’s a known fact that China often uses Nepal as a buffer state against India. After the Indo-China war of 1962, the Dragon country has made constant efforts to increase its influence in Nepal. Though it did not succeed much till Nepal was under the rule of monarchy, the fall of monarchy and growing Maoist grip over Nepal has given a fillip to Chinese plans.

A clear indicator of this is the construction of Sikta barrage in Agaiya village of Banke district (Nepal). Its construction was delayed for almost three decades owing to Indian protest. But, once Maoists held sway over the Nepali government, the construction was given a go-ahead in 2006. Moreover, the contract for the project was given to Chinese firm — Sinehydro. In fact, a team of 40 Chinese engineers is engaged in the construction of the Sikta barrage in Agaiya district of Nepal. The district touches the Indian district of Shravasti. The distance from Indian border to the barrage is barely 14 kilometres. The possibility of Chinese infiltration in important zones of war on Indian border areas due to the presence of Chinese engineers cannot be ruled out.

Also, after the completion of the barrage the flow of river Rapti towards India will be diverted towards Nepal which will create acute water shortage in Indian area. Efforts have also been started to divert the flow of rivers flowing towards Indian area from Parchu lake located in Chinese area adjoining the state which may lead to floods in the borders districts of India during monsoon.

Not only this, if the and Sikta barrage ever breaks down due to technical reasons it will severely impact the security arrangements made on the India border. China, thus, seems to be working on these two projects under well-planned policy to tease India.

Similarly, China has established the office of ‘Maitri Sangh’ in Nepal adjoining Indian border territory.

Meanwhile, a 10-member team comprising five Chinese and five Tibetan national recently visited Nepalganj headquarters of Banke district (Nepal). The team toured the Indo-Nepal border and secretly clicked photographs of the Rupaidiha main gate located on Indo-Nepal border.

The Indian intelligence agencies, however, learnt about this when the team had already left for Kathmandu.

Assistant army Nayak Devendra of Shashtra Seema Bal (SSB), when contacted, told TOI that he will report the incident to his senior officers.

WNS' CEO hunt narrows to Nambiar, Kurien

MUMBAI: The race to head India’s second-largest BPO WNS has narrowed down to Rajesh Nambiar of IBM Global Services and TK Kurien of Wipro,

according to a person close to the matter.

WNS had roped in executive searchfirm Egon Zehnder to find a new chief executive after co-founder and group CEO Neeraj Bhargava announced that he was stepping down. However, the process was put on hold, as the BPO’s largest shareholder Warburg Pincus initiated plans to sell its 50% stake. With the stake sale now being called off, the search process has resumed.

“An announcement about the new CEO is expected very soon,” said the person requesting anonymity. A company spokesperson said WNS does not comment on market speculation. Mr Nambiar is in a key role in IBM’s India operations heading its global delivery, a space where it competes with Indian outsourcing majors, such Tata Consultancy Services and US rival Accenture. He is also part of IBM’s core 10-member team on technology at the global level.

Mr Kurien, who once headed Wipro’s BPO business, moved into a new role after a reorganisation in April 2008 following the appointment of Suresh Vaswani and Girish Paranjpe as joint CEOs. He is currently president, Wipro Consulting Services, global programs and strategic initiatives. He is also part of Wipro’s corporate executive council, and reports directly to Azim Premji for new initiatives outside the IT business.

Following the reorganisation, there was a buzz that Mr Kurien would leave Wipro. He is credited with successfully integrating Spectramind into the company. He has more than 23 years of experience, of which around 10 years are with GE. Prior to joining Wipro, he was managing director and CFO of GE Medical Systems.

The WNS decision will be critical to Warburg Pincus plans to exit the company, which is expected to revive the process after a short interval. It had called off the process because the bids received were below expectations. “The CEO who comes in will also have to contend with this uncertainty,” pointed out a senior executive from the BPO industry.

Global financial firms to shed India back office operations

MUMBAI: Global financial firms, emerging from the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, are looking to shed India back office operations as they focus on core operations and cost cuts. AIG and Citigroup Inc, the insurance and banking giants bailed out by the US government, have already sold some of their India units in the past 12 months, and there are increasing expectations of more such deals.

On the block are units of UBS, American Express and BoA-Merrill Lynch, banking sources said, adding Credit Suisse may follow. There is no official word on the prices but bankers estimate deals to be worth between $100 million to $600 million.

"It is pretty straightforward. Banks don't want these operations anymore," said a banker who is advising a potential buyer of one of the operations. He asked not to be identified as he was not authorised to speak to the media. "Such captive units are almost passe. Internally they are asking, 'Do we want a few thousand employees working on supportive functions or do we outsource it (on a long-term contract) and pay a few hundred million?'" There are buyers galore right from top software services firms such as Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, Wipro Cognizant to private equity firms such as KKR and Blackstone, which already own back office firms in India.

A big part of the attraction is that such sales usually come with a fat multi-year contract to run the services for the financial firm. And the time-tested operations can be used to attract other financial clients. For instance TCS, which bought Citi's back office for $505 million last October, got a nine and a half year contract worth $2.5 billion from Citi.

IT cos bet on risk-reward partnerships for growth

MUMBAI: Even as investors look for pointers on the pick-up in demand and pricing from the results of IT companies, there are indications that the

pricing models themselves may be changing. The recent recession and client pressure to share risk have led to the past few quarters witnessing a significant increase in the number of deals based on risk-reward partnership.

“In the past few quarters, many contracts were renegotiated. The new models are based on a risk-reward partnership, and pricing based on defined outcomes,” said Karthik Ananth, engagement manager, Zinnov Management Consulting.

According to analysts, deals based on sharing risks are becoming a lot more frequent these days. “About a quarter of all deals with an annual run rate of $30 million or more are now being negotiated on newer pricing models,” said a senior executive with one of the country’s top-10 IT exporters, requesting anonymity.

Patni Computer Services’ $40-million deal with the US-based Weyerhaeuser is learnt to be based on one such new model. HCL Technologies, which bagged a $350-million contract from Reader’s Digest, made an upfront payment to it, as part of the promised savings, pointed out an IT analyst.

More in use are outcome-based and transaction-based pricing models. Here, pricing is based on a set of results or on the number of transactions, rather than on the number of manhours spent on a project.

There are also pure risk-reward models for product engineering projects, where the vendor is paid based on how successful the product is in the market. A similar model has now emerged for large IT service projects, where the client initially covers only the costs incurred for the project. The rest of the payment to the vendor is a percentage of the profits, said Mr Ananth.

SEBI asks Raju's brother, 2 others to file replies by Oct 30

MUMBAI: Market regulator SEBI today asked R Rama Raju, brother of Satyam founder B Ramalinga Raju, and two others to reply by end of the month

to the show cause notices issued to them in connection with the multi-crore accounting fraud case in the IT company.

SEBI has also allowed Rama Raju and others, including Vadlamani Srinivas and G Ramakrishna, to inspect the documents available with the regulator on October 14 and has fixed the date for personal hearing on November 7.

Other accused persons, Ramalinga Raju and V S Prabhakara Gupta, had earlier sought adjournment of the hearing.

SEBI allowed the persons involved in the Satyam case to inspect the documents following submissions by the counsels that their clients were in jail and had no access to records of company, necessary for responding to show cause notices issued by the regulator.

While Srinivas was the chief financial officer of the Satyam Computer Services, Ramakrishna functioned as cost accountant. Gupta too has been associated with the company.

SEBI had issued show cause notices to various persons involved in the Satyam fraud case which came to light after admission of fudging of accounts by its disgraced founder Ramalinga Raju in January.

Besides SEBI, the scam is also probed by Serious Fraud Investigation Office and CBI.

IT pricing models based on outcome & utility in vogue

MUMBAI: Even as investors look for pointers on the pick-up in business demand and pricing from the second quarter results of IT companies, there are trends that indicate the pricing models themselves may be undergoing a gradual change. Some of the momentum for the change has come from the recession and client pressure to share business risk. As compared to one in many deals that were seeing newer pricing models in 2007, the last few quarters have witnessed a significant increase in the number of deals based on newer models.

Some of these models have been experimented with earlier but did not become mainstream. In the current environment , analysts and IT services vendors say these deals are now becoming a lot more frequent, and may not revert to older models even post-recession . “In the last few quarters, we are seeing a lot more deals getting closed and a many contracts being re-negotiated . The newer business models are based on a risk-reward partnership and pricing based on defined outcomes,” said Karthik Ananth, engagement manager, Zinnov Management Consulting.

“About a quarter of all deals with an annual run-rate of $30 million or more are now being negotiated on these newer pricing models,” said a senior executive with one of the country’s top 10 IT exporters, requesting anonymity. “Some of the deals were structured using these models because the IT budgets of clients had frozen or vanished,” he added.
Mid-size exporter Patni Computer Services’ $40 million deal with the US-based Weyerhaeuser is learnt to be based on one of these newer models. Similarly, HCL Technologies, which bagged a seven-year $350 million contract with Reader’s Digest made an up front payment to it as part of the promised savings, pointed out an IT analyst with a brokerage, requesting not to be named.

India set to be global leader in tech services, says Forbes chief

MUMBAI: India is set to become a global leader in technology services as software companies move up in the value chain, while the weak dollar has hurt the US economic recovery, the Chairman and CEO of business publisher Forbes said on Saturday. "You have to make the distinction between pumping in money in immediate emergency response to the near collapse of the financial system and when the immediate crisis is over," Steve Forbes, 62, said, when asked what he made of the US government's response to the worst global economic crisis since the Great Depression. "This year I think the US government has made a number of mistakes that has slowed the recovery. They've not reduced taxes ... in terms of the dollar, they have not stabilised the dollar. They've weakened the dollar which hurts business investments, hurts the flow of capital and small businesses," he said. "So the government is prolonging the crisis - we should have had a strong recovery instead," Forbes said, adding that not enough was being done for job creation.

The pace of economic growth in India proved that the country was able to weather the crisis well - but the government would have to work to make the economy grow further, he said.

The Indian economy rose 6.7 per cent in 2008/09, while it is expected to rise 6 per cent in the current fiscal year. "India should continue the liberalisation that began in 1991, including simplifying the tax code and reducing tax rates, and allowing more overseas investments into India," he said. He said the bureaucratic procedures should be simplified to facilitate entrepreneurs. "One step - done!" India also needed to reduce the hurdles to building infrastructure, he said.

IBM faces rivalry despite antitrust inquiry

NEW YORK: IBM's dominance in large computer systems called mainframes may make it look like the US government has an open and shut case of

monopoly, but upon closer examination it appears there is more competition than critics suggest.

Analysts say the mainframes in question represent a small segment of the broader server market, where rivalry is heating up due to Oracle Corp's planned acquisition of Sun Microsystems Inc, as well as, network equipment giant Cisco Systems Inc's recent market entry.

The Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA), which urged the US Justice Department to investigate International Business Machines Corp, said the vendor of technology hardware and services had a 100 percent grip in mainframe operating systems.

IBM does dominate when it comes to supplying mainframe systems that run on its own operating system. But analysts say competition exists in other kinds of high-end servers, which similarly process large workloads and serve as the central nervous system for ATMs and airline bookings.

Technology research firm IDC's data shows IBM's high-end mainframe products, called System z, accounts for around 10 percent of worldwide server revenue of $53.3 billion.

In overall servers, IBM had 34.5 per cent market share, with HP holding around 28.5 per cent share, according to IDC.

Analysts said that since customers can switch to other mainframes or other servers, it made sense to look at the broader market.

"It's not as though people don't have other choices or can't turn to other products to do the work," said Jeffrey Hewitt at Gartner.

Try second-hand market for cheaper iPhones

BANGALORE: If you find that paying over Rs 30,000 for an iPhone does not make sense, may be you should look at the used market in mobile phones.

You are likely to find attractive high-end phones that are barely a few months old at a price that is a fraction of the original cost.

Srinivas Venugopal, proprietor of a mobile phone shop in Jayanagar, says a threemonth-old original iPhone is available for a 20-30% lower price than a new phone, and a six-month-old handset is available for 50% less.

“That is a huge saving and it makes sense for people who love to experience different models of high-end phones. Many of these are sold in exchange for old, low-end phones,’’ he says.

A brand new iPhone 3G 8GB is priced at Rs 31,000, and an iPhone 3G 16GB at Rs 36,000. The used market even has iPhones embedded with diamonds which originally cost Rs 2-3 crore.

A new Nokia N97 is priced at Rs 33,000, a Sony Ericsson C095 at Rs 23,000, a Samsung Omnia series is available from Rs 29,000, HTC Touch HD is at Rs 40,000, and an exclusive Nokia Vertu at Rs 4 lakh. Secondhand versions of these can be had at 20-50% of these prices.

A mobile phone is the most ‘flauntable’ personal accessory today and a high end cellphone continues to be a style statement for students, entrepreneurs and professionals. But few want to show-off the same handheld for more than 3-6 months. This has spawned what is now a popular used mobile phone market, on a par with the used cars mart.

“At least a lakh of high-end mobile phones are sold in Bangalore a month. And 90% of these are sold via second hand markets,” says Hassan Sahah, a mobile phone dealer at Bangalore’s National Market, a second-hand hub.

A second hand phone sold in its original packaging (box piece) with original software, data cord, manual, charger, battery, etc, can fetch a premium of 10-15%.

Nokia's netbook computer

Nokia's netbook computer, the Booklet 3G, is seen at Nokia corporate headquarters in Helsinki on August 24, 2009. The world's top cellphone maker Nokia said it would start to make laptops, entering a fiercely competitive, but fast-growing market.

Tweets to help IIM-B connect with alumni

BANGALORE: Minister of state for external affairs Shashi Tharoor does it, Bollywood actor Priyanka Chopra loves it. Twitter, a social networking site, has become a platform not only to air opinions but also to network.

Following suit is Indian Institute of Management Bangalore Alumni Association (IIMBAA), which is looking at various social networking sites, including Facebook and Orkut, to get in touch with alumni. Though IIMBAA’s primary objective is to connect them through their own public portal, www.iimbaa.org, they are looking at other means also.

“Our approach is direct contact. However , we are also trying to get in touch electronically,” Prof Sankarshan Basu, chairperson, IIMBAA, told TOI.

The association wants alumni to be involved in various activities of the institute , like placements, course design and guest lectures. Terming these activities as short-term goals, Prof Basu explained that earlier, the alumni played a significant role in placements.

After companies started to recruit directly , the requirement for alumni involvement for placements dipped gradually . “The 2008 placements were a success , but the September 2008 placement process was affected after the collapse of Lehman Brothers and other financial institutions. Around 30 fresh graduates who had joined the firm, were left in the lurch. The institute also took the help of alumni,” he said.

Prof Basu observed that alumni have helped by giving an “additional push” whenever required. “Usually students on top of the batch somehow manage to get dream jobs, but those who don’t fit the category find it difficult. This year, we are also seeking the alumni’s help in executive post-graduate programme placements, as their needs are different ,” he said.

With some of the alumni doing well in their career, the association wants them to share their experiences with students through guest lectures and also give an insight into the industry so that curriculum can be tailored to industry needs at a faster pace.

IIMBAA wants the alumni to involve itself in fund-raising activities, which they term as a “long-term ” goal.

The association is in existence for the past 34 years, however, there was no formal structure and was becoming more Bangalore-centric . Now, it’s structured properly and has set up 11 chapters — six in India (Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Chennai and Kolkata) and the remaining in New York, London , Singapore, Hong Kong and Dubai

5,500 of paramilitary guarding Gadchiroli

A contingent of 18 companies of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel — around 2,100 men — arrived in Gadchiroli on Sunday to assist in the combing operation to clear out the Naxal group that had gunned down 17 C-60 commandos last week near Lahiri.

Eight companies of the CRPF and 27 companies of the Border Security Force had been pressed into poll duty earlier this month. With the fresh arrivals, the number of paramilitary personnel in the district has gone up to over 5,500.

In a joint strategy chalked out by the Maharashtra police and the Chhattisgarh government, the combing operation has begun from both sides to first round up and then flush out the Naxals.

Gadchiroli Additional SP Dr Manoj Sharma said the second army MI-17 helicopter was pressed into operation on Sunday. Two more choppers would be made available this week.

Meanwhile, 20 kg of high-intensity explosives with blasting devices were recovered from Korchi, 65 km north of Gadchiroli, on Sunday.

Sharma said the recovery was made while clearing a road. The explosives had been stashed in a cavity, ostensibly by Naxals to disrupt movement.

The Naxals, he said, were resorting to “every possible trick” to obstruct the progress of the search parties in jungles as well as roads by creating obstacles.

“The jungles have been mined while attempts are being made to disrupt road communication,” Sharma said, adding that mine detectors and anti- mine equipment were being used to clear the passage.

MP yet to sign tripartite pact for tiger conservation

NEW DELHI: Except Madhya Pradesh, all the tiger-range states have signed a tripartite agreement with the Centre and sanctuaries on big cat conservation which makes them eligible for funds.

West Bengal, which initially had expressed reservation in signing the agreement that makes the tiger reserve directors accountable for the predator's mortality, too recently signed the pact, an official said.

However, Madhya Pradesh's reluctance to sign the agreement has drawn flak from the environmentalists, who fear that in the absence of Central-sponsored funds, the state might lose its tag of "tiger state", having as many as six major sanctuaries.

"All the states have already signed it and this is the way forward to revive the dwindling tiger population.

"A large sum of money is being put into tiger conservation efforts and states must be made accountable for fund spending," wildlife expert Belinda Wright of Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI) said.

She asserted that since it is the tax payers money, all the states and the Centre need to have a unified stand and agreement to protect the endangered tigers. "We hope Madhya Pradesh would soon sign the pact," she added.

Tiger expert Ashok Kumar from Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) expressed similar views. "Unless it (MP) signs the tripartite agreement, it will not get fund for management of reserves, thus putting the striped cats at risk. The pact aims to ensure accountability in the state's tiger conservation efforts."


The Madhya Pradesh government has sought about Rs 3,200 crore for relocation of 117 villages situated inside the six reserves -- Panna, Satpura, Kanha, Pench and Bandhavgarh.

However, State Additional Chief Secretary (Forest) Prashant Mehta termed the pact as "unconstitutional" and said under the existing bilateral pact, the State Chief Wildlife Warden was already responsible for tiger management.

"Nevertheless, we are open to the talks. We have suggested a bilateral pact between Centre and the state and Chief Wildlife Warden can sign an individual agreement with the director of reserves on tiger conservation," Mehta added.

On being asked if absence of pact would hamper fund flow and hence tiger conservation, he retorted "had the Centre been concerned about the safety of wild cats, it would not have tried to impose the pact on the states."

Seventeen states in the country have tiger population.

Lunar bombing a smash hit

WASHINGTON: Earthlings are having a blast – at the expense of the silent Moon. The US space agency Nasa on Friday deliberately crashed a rocket

into planet earth’s nearest celestial - and revered - neighbor in an effort to expand the search for water on the Moon. Nasa said the rocket and satellite strike was a success, kicking up enough dust for scientists to determine whether or not there is water on the moon.

“We have the data we need to address the questions we set out to address”, said Anthony Colaprete, principal investigator for the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite mission. At approximately 5.31pm IST on Friday, a rocket called LCROSS (for Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite), traveling at over twice the speed of a bullet, traversed the nearly 375,000 km from earth to Moon and slammed into the bottom of a lunar crater bathed in a permanent shadow.

The impact is said to have created 13 feet deep, 65 feet wide hole and excavated about 350 metric tons of Moon debris, some of it flying up. Trailing four minutes behind, instruments aboard the second piece of the rocket analyzed the rising plume and sent its observations back to Earth before it also slammed into the same crater.

The “double smack,’’ as one report called it, was primarily aimed at ferreting out any hidden ice - and therefore water - on the Moon beyond the traces thought to exist. If there are significant amounts, then it changes the whole ball game of Moon exploration since presence of H²O means life giving oxygen and fuel-potential hydrogen, both of which mankind carries from earth now when it visits the Moon.

An icy Moon could facilitate a moon base, allowing a host of activity from growing food in pressurized green houses to a whole lot of workaday chores. But scientists concede it is also possible that the first major water-specific probe could have easily missed a pocket of ice – or that the theory is wrong and there isn’t large amount of ice on the moon after all.

The much-hyped crash landing was a bit of an anti-climax as it did not live up to the spectacular visual space aficionados had expected based on the animation.

Two-thirds of world's blind are women: Study

London: Two-thirds of blind people worldwide are women and girls, and the gender bias has resulted in men and boys having twice the access to

eye-care, says an international agency in a report to mark the "World Sight Day" Thursday.

The International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness says in most developing countries, women are less likely to receive eye care services than men, and that additionally, women comprise more than half of the elderly population.

"The natural incidence of some blinding diseases, like cataract and trachoma, is higher among women than men, which results in a situation where women account for nearly two-thirds of blind people worldwide."

Some of the key findings of the report are

• Equal access to eye care could substantially reduce blindness in poor countries

• Simple and effective strategies can address the inequity within 2020

• 80 percent of blindness is avoidable and can be prevented, cured or treated

• 45 million people worldwide are blind, and 269 million are vision impaired

• 90 percent of blind people live in low-income countries

• The world's leading cause of blindness is cataract

• Cataract is curable by simple, cost-effective operation

"Blindness and severe visual impairment from cataract could be reduced by around 11 percent in low- and middle-income countries if women were to receive cataract surgery at the same rate as men," says the British Journal of Ophthalmology.

Accordingly, the new report recommends strategies that are simple and achievable with the hope that they will contribute significantly to reducing blindness in developing countries.

"The systematic approach to 'gender and blindness' can serve as a model to help other health areas to address gender inequity."

The World Sight Day is an international day of awareness, commemorated annually on the second Thursday of October to focus attention on the global issue of avoidable blindness and visual impairment.

Bonus bonanza from Reliance

Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), the country’s largest private sector company, on Wednesday announced a bonus share issue of one share for every share held—only the second time in the 32 years since it went public in 1977.

The oil refining, exploration and petrochemicals giant topped that with a Rs. 13 per share dividend for existing shareholders in the backdrop of a courtroom dispute with the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group led by Mukesh’s estranged brother Anil who controls the other part of the divided Reliance industrial empire.

The pleasant surprise to shareholders came as the company unveiled audited financial results for 2008-09 in consolidated figures that combined revenues from Reliance Petroleum Ltd (RPL), which has been merged into the group flagship with effect from April 1 this year. The combined entity reported a marginal 0.2 per cent decline in consolidated net profit.

“The bonus was completely unexpected and has come as a positive surprise,” said Amitabh Chakraborty, president, equity, at Religare Enterprises. “A bonus issue, while neutral on accounting terms, has a positive impact on the market because it reflects the company’s confidence of a bright future prospect and its ability to serve double the equity base.”

What this means is that RIL must henceforth strive to increase earnings on twice the current number of shares.

RIL’s dividend will involve a cash outflow of Rs. 2,219 crore.

RIL’s net profit in 2008-09 totalled Rs. 15,296 crore down from Rs 15,326 crore it registered in 2007-08 as expenses on crude oil shot up. Consoliated revenues rose 10.3 per cent at Rs. 151,224 crore.

“High crude oil prices in the first two quarters impacted the refining margin of the company leading to a dip in its profits,” said Alex Mathews, head of research at Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services.

The refining business continues to be the flagship business for the company as it accounts for 63 per cent of total revenues, followed by petrochemicals that earns 32 per cent of the revenue for the company.

RIL’s oil and gas exploration business, much in the news for the dispute between the Ambani brothers over the supply and pricing of gas for ADAG’s energy units, contributes only 2.5 per cent of the company’s revenues. However, its 60 per cent net margin is several times that of the other business lines.

Oil regulator counters ADAG campaign with ads of his own

Faced with allegations of favouring Mukesh Ambani-controlled Reliance Industries' Ltd in the ongoing gas price war with ADAG, oil regulator Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) on Wednesday launched an advertisement campaign to state that the government would get $16.57 billion as revenues compared to $9.5 billion for RIL.

DGH said at $4.20 per unit, the Government would earn in profit share, taxes and royalty Rs 77,879 crore, while the net revenues to RIL-Niko combine would be Rs 49,961 crore.

Director General VK Sibal has also sought government protection against damage to his “personal and professional life” from the Anil Ambani group.

“I will not be surprised if ADAG resorts to violent means to achieve their objective,”

Clouds of soot melting glaciers in Himalayas and Tibetan plateau

LONDON: In a new research, scientists in India and China have determined that glaciers in the Himalayas and the Tibetan plateau that feed the

river systems of almost half the world's people are melting faster because of the effects of clouds of soot from diesel fumes and wood fires.

According to a report in the Guardian, the results of the research, to be announced this month in Kashmir, show for the first time that clouds of soot - made up of tiny particles of "black carbon" emitted from old diesel engines and from cooking with wood, crop waste or cow dung - are "unequivocally having an impact on glacial melting" in the Himalayas.

Scientists said that while the threat of carbon dioxide (CO2) to global warming has been accepted, soot from developing countries is a largely unappreciated cause of rising temperatures.

Once the black carbon lands on glaciers, it absorbs sunlight that would otherwise be reflected by the snow, leading to melting.

"This is a huge problem which we are ignoring," said Professor Syed Hasnain of the Energy and Resources Institute (Teri) in Delhi.

"We are finding concentrations of black carbon in the Himalayas in what are supposed to be pristine, untouched environments," he added.

The institute has set up two sensors in the Himalayas, one on the Kholai glacier that sits on the mountain range's western flank in Kashmir and the other flowing through the eastern reaches in Sikkim.

Glaciers in this region feed most of the major rivers in Asia.

The short-term result of substantial melting is severe flooding downstream.

Hasnain said that India and China produce about a third of the world's black carbon, and both countries have been slow to act.

"India is the worst. At least in China, the state has moved to measure the problem. In Delhi. no government agency has put any sensors on the ground. Teri is doing it by ourselves," he said.

Decreasing black carbon emissions should be a relatively cheap way to significantly curb global warming.

Black carbon falls from the atmosphere after just a couple of weeks, and replacing primitive cooking stoves with modern versions that emit far less soot could quickly end the problem.

Controlling traffic in the Himalayan region should help ease the harm done by emissions from diesel engines.