26 July 2013

Toyota top-selling automaker despite China slump

Toyota shrugged off China sales woes to stay the world's top selling automaker for the first half of this year, outpacing US rival General Motors Co, which boasted such bragging rights for seven decades until 2008.

Toyota Motor Corp sold 4.91 million cars and trucks around the world for the January-June period, down 1.2 percent from the previous year, according to numbers it released on Friday.

World Bank to fund master plans of UP investment zones

World Bank has agreed to fund the preparation of preliminary master plans of Auraiya Investment Zone and Allahabad-Naini-Bara Investment Zone,Infrastructure and Industrial Development Department (IIDD) principal secretary Surya Pratap Singh said the Uttar Pradesh government was in an advanced stage of notifying two investment zones at Auraiya and Allahabad.

"Preparation of master plans of these zones would help in accelerating the implementation of dedicated freight corridor project,"The World Bank delegation led by Barjor Mehta, lead urban specialist, included agriculture and urbanisation expert Ireena Vittal, consultant competitive industries practice and manufacturing Yannik Saleman and urban planner Vibhu Jain.Proposed NIMZs include Auraiya National Investment & Manufacturing Zone (6,043 hectares) and Jhansi National Investment & Manufacturing Zone (5,567 hectares). Industrial zones have been proposed at Pashchimanchal Industrial Zone (2,000 hectares), Braj Industrial Zone (2,000 hectares), Kanpur Logistics hub (6,000 hectares), Allahabad-Naini-Bara Investment Zone (3,000 hectares) and Mughalsari-Varansai-Mirzapur Investment Zone (3,000 hectares).

Wipro chairman Azim Premji raises concern over deteriorating economy

Wipro chairman Azim Premji told shareholders that the software major's biggest market US is looking up even as India's economy posed a major concern. "US market is looking better than what it was three months back, consumer sentiment is better, US equity markets are also better, while Europe continues to be flat. The major concern is economic situation in India,"Premji was more optimistic when it came to the overall IT business. He said that while growth may not return to 30% levels, it won't be single digit either like what has been the trend in the past few years.

"We are confident that the IT company is better positioned. We are trying to develop abilities to suit changing business and technology landscape. The re-structured organisation will suit customers." Responding to a shareholder's question on why the board didn't have any woman director Premji said: "There will be a woman director on board by the next AGM."

No monolithic Muslim vote, but will vote as a bloc in 2014 to keep Narendra Modi out

There are three questionable assumptions about the political behaviour of India's Muslims. First, they vote en bloc for a candidate or a party. Second, they are more strategic in their voting than other groups. Third, their voting decisions are not autonomous, but influenced by clerics or community leaders.

It presumes that Muslims are monolithic and divisions of region, class, gender and caste either do not matter or play a minor role in shaping their politics.

There is little evidence to support this view of overarching Muslim unity or the role of religious considerations rather than quotidian interests in the making of electoral choices.

Make Rashtrapati Bhavan accessible to public: Pranab Mukherjee

Every effort should be made to increase accessibility of Rashtrapati Bhavan to the public, President Pranab Mukherjee said on Thursday as he launched a new section of digital initiatives on completing his first year in office.

"The common citizens of our country always have the desire and curiosity to know more about the highest constitutional office in the land," he said.

The President said he is very happy to note that a substantial portion of Rashtrapati Bhavan has been opened to public viewing by giving reasonable access to visitors "who want to explore its rich history and architectural heritage and the history leading to the creation of our nation".

"This would serve, in a good measure, to educate the young generation and inculcate in them a sense of pride and nationalism. I would like to see the Rashtrapati Bhavan playing an important role in further spreading this sense of pride amongst the citizens," he said.

As part of digital initiatives, historical speeches, documentaries and newsreels procured from AIR and Films Division have been added to the new-look Rashtrapati Bhavan website. A video, "The Presidency: Glimpses of First Year", will be added to the website which will cover important events over the past one year in the Rashtrapati Bhavan and the President's Estate.

A digital photo library with photographs of the first year of Mukherjee's presidency is being added to the website. Later on, the photo library will contain archival photographs of the first Governor General after Independence Rajagopalachari and Presidents since 1949. It is intended to help archival conservation through digitisation of old photographs and will be implemented in a phased manner through a user-friendly interface.

A face recognition feature was being added to the search engine of the photo library that will enable searching photographs with a given photo in the database and result in all matched photos. The photo library, when completed, is expected to have a database of over three million photographs, President's Press Secretary Venu Rajamony said.

A catalogue of 1525 old and rare books of Rashtrapati Bhavan is being added to the website for the information of public along with select portions of the audio-visual section of the library. The oldest book in the library -- "The Original Works of William Hogarth" -- dates back to 1795.

The audio-visual section includes historical speeches, newsreels and documentaries procured from sources like All India Radio and Films Division.

Rare historical speeches like "Tryst with Destiny" and "Death of Mahatma Gandhi" delivered by Jawarharlal Nehru and speeches of Mahatma Gandhi, Lord Mountbatten, C Rajagopalachari, former presidents and other prominent leaders will also be available in this section.

The films include archival material on the history of the freedom movement, events around independence, departure of Lord Mountbatten from India and funeral of Gandhi, the spokesman said.

Gujarat Ranji player is now US national team skipper

Former Gujarat Ranji player Timil Patel has been appointed captain of US's national cricket team for a series against Canada for the Auty Cup. The tour started on Thursday.

The 29-year-old Amdavadi leg-spinner emigrated to the US with his family in 2010 after playing 38 first class games for Gujarat. He made his international debut for the US on November 14, 2012, against Canada in the previous edition of the Auty Cup played in Florida.