Dhoni becomes the Highest Scorer of 2009

Sachin completes 20 years in ODIs

India failed to keep their momentum going and as a result lost the second of the five match series at Nagpur. However it wasn't all as dull as ditchwater, as captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni posted his sixth century in ODIs.

With his knock, Dhoni edged ahead of Pakistan's Kamran Akmal, who has scored five centuries. Dhoni now has keepers Adam Gilchrist and Kumar Sangakkara in sight who have scored more centuries than Dhoni. Gilly has notched up 16 centuries while Sangakkara has 8 under his belt. As of now, Dhoni has become the highest ODI run-scorer in 2009 equalling Australia's Ricky Ponting's tally of 1198 runs. Dhoni still has three ODI matches to play against Lanka in the ongoing series.

On the other side, Sachin Tendulkar finished two decades in ODI cricket on December 18th. The Maestro had made his debut against Pakistan at Gujranwala on the same day back in 1989. He is now only the second player in the history of ODI cricket to play for twenty years, after Pakistan's Javed Miandad, who had a span of 20 years 272 days. There were more records for India - the team's 302 was their 57th 300+ total in ODIs. India now look to overtake Australia who hold the record for 59 300+ scores. Out of the 57 times, India have scored 300+ against Sri Lanka 12 times, which is the highest by any side.

On the downside, Ashish Nehra now holds the dubious world record of giving away 70+ runs 8 times in his quota of ten overs. He just overtook Waqar Younis who had 7 such ordeals.

3 arrested in Bangalore serial blasts case

Three more persons have been arrested in connection with the serial blasts that rocked the city in July last year on the basis of interrogation of two Lashkar-e-Taiba suspects, a top police official said.
LeT suspects, Nazir and Shafaz Shamsuddin, handed over to India by Bangladesh rifles recently and subsequently brought here, provided the information leading to the arrests, Bangalore police commissioner Shankar Bidari said.
Four vehicles used for transporting explosive materials and planting of bombs were seized from the arrested persons -- Tajuddin from Vadimara, Surfuddin from Kannur (both in Kerala) and Abdul Khadar from Virajpet (Karnataka).
The Bangalore serial blasts were carried out with financial assistance and guidance by LeT. Besides, Nazir and Shafaz were financially assisted by the Pakistan-based militant outfit during their stay in Bangladesh, Bidari said.
Nazir also revealed his involvement in various other terror activities including the Kalamassery bus burning, twin blasts at Kozhikode, attempt to murder former Kerala chief minister E K Nayanar and the Coimbatore Press Club bomb blasts, he said.
Police have registered nine cases in connection with the Bangalore serial blasts.
Nazir and Shafaz have been questioned by Karnataka and Tamil Nadu police. The duo are now in Kerala police custody. A National Investigation Agency team is also in Kozhikode to question them.

Indian airports put on 'Wall of Shame'

The International Air Transport Association has put India on the 'Wall of Shame' for hiking airport user charges by over 200 per cent, but hopes that the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority would play a role to rationalise these charges paid by airlines and passengers.
Observing that India, Dubai and London Heathrow had been put on the 'Wall of Shame" for hiking airport charges substantially, International Air Transport Association (IATA) Director General and CEO Giovanni Bisignani said it was "absolutely amazing" that user charges in Delhi and Mumbai airports had been increased by 200 per cent.
"The new airport development fee and airport charges have increased by USD 587 million in India," he said, adding that AERA chief Yashwant Bhave would be visiting IATA headquarters here in January when he would be briefed about what could be done to rationalist these charges and what was happening in this regard the world over.
Bisignani said the airports in Singapore, Malaysia, Toronto, Copenhagen and Paris have reduced these charges or frozen them at previous year levels.
IATA's Director Airport and ATC Charges Jeff Poole told PTI that in India, the airlines and passengers were paying now for tomorrow's infrastructure and said "we have for long been shouting in wilderness" in case of India where there was "a very compelling case why these charges should not be lowered or some taxes removed".
Several months ago, Bisignani had written a letter to Civil Aviation Praful Patel on priority areas for Indian aviation where he had called for reduction of these charges, besides the tax on business and first class tickets, high navigation charges and those for overflights.
He had suggested that AERA should play a major role in rationalising these charges.

Policians in Goa accuse rape victims of being guilty

The Rajya Sabha was outraged when a Congress MP from Goa on Tuesday accused the media of playing up rape cases in his state and said a rape victim who was friends with strangers should be treated “differently”.
Shantaram Naik, who was speaking about the alleged rape of 25-year-old Russian woman in Goa on December 1, said the electronic media had blown the case out of proportion.
Rape is a heinous crime but "an alleged rape of a lady who moves with strangers for days together even beyond the middle of the night is to be treated on different footings," said Naik.
"If we go by electronic media coverage of recent times, it appears that nothing happens except incidents of rape (in Goa)," he said.
Opposition MPs, who were led CPI-M’s Brinda Karat, BJP’s Najma Heptulla and Maya Singh, and SP’s Jaya Bachchan, condemned Naik’s statement.
The MPs requested Deputy Chairman K Rahman Khan not to allow Naik statement, which they said was derogatory to women. Senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said Naik was "justifying" rape.
Khan asked the Goa MP to submit his Zero Hour text for examination and said the member was going beyond the subject he wanted to raise. Naik's statements were later expunged from the House records.
At least two other senior politicians in Goa have made controversial statements about rape victims this month.
Goa Chief Minister Digambar Kamath told in an interview the Russian woman shouldn't have been out late at night with men.
Public Works Department Minister Churchill Alemao, a former chief minister, followed that up by saying that the media ignored several other rape cases in Goa because of its obsession with white skin.
“Indians become rape victims in the Gulf, men get killed in America and other places, but the media only highlights incidents against foreigners in Goa," said Alemao on December 11.
Tourism Minister Micky Pacheco, however, has expressed fear that rapes and assaults on tourists may make Goa the “rape capital” of India.
"Goa may soon, if police inaction or ineffectiveness continues, gain reputation as the rape capital of India, a situation which cannot be permitted to develop at any cost," said Pacheco in a letter to Kamath on December 11.

Punjab Police on high alert after shutdown call

Authorities in Punjab remained on high alert Monday following a state-wide shutdown called by radical Sikh organisations to protest against Saturday's violence in Ludhiana. Security forces, including Punjab Police, remained on high alert following the shutdown call given by radical Sikh organisations led by Damdami Taksal. Ludhiana city continued to be under curfew for the third day Monday while students did not report to schools in various cities of the state. Panjab University also postponed its examinations scheduled Monday at Ludhiana, Hoshiarpur and Chandigarh centres in view of the shutdown and curfew in Ludhiana.
Trains left from Amritsar station normally early morning and passed Ludhiana, the centre-point of trouble over the last three days. Road traffic on the busy National Highway No1 (NH-1) and other highways was operating normally even though lesser number of vehicles could be seen plying. The shutdown was called after violent incidents in Ludhiana Friday and Saturday left one person dead and several injured. The Sikh organisations had clashed with the police Saturday while they tried to disrupt a religious conference of controversial sect leader Ashutosh Maharaj of the Divya Jyoti Jagriti Sansthan.

IIM, Prometric do CAT stretch

Prometric said it has prepared the registration and scheduling system and all registered students can take the test. Some testing labs experienced technical difficulties mainly on account of viruses and malware. "The majority of these issues have been identified and eradicated. Prometric, in partnership with NIIT, is continuing to monitor and assess all labs. If testing is not possible for any session at specific labs, affected students will be contacted via SMS and email the day before. Rescheduling of these students will then be initiated and new appointments communicated," said Prometric. By December 3 (Day 6) more than 1.12 lakh students completed their test. Most affected students were given rescheduled dates and they have taken the test too. "In the meantime, virtually all students are continuing to successfully test without issues, and the number of impacted candidates has decreased significantly," the press release stated. On December 8, CAT 2009 will be held over one morning session in 20 cities -- Bangalore, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh, Chennai, Kochi, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Gurgaon, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, New Delhi, Noida, Greater Noida, Pune and Varanasi. Ramesh Nava, vice-president and general manager, Asia Pacific, Japan & Africa, Prometric said: "We're working with the IIMs to add an additional session on Day 11 to accommodate the students within the city they were originally scheduled." Prometric has extended hours for CAT Candidate Care (1800 103 9293), added more telephone lines and agents to accommodate the large number of calls. The Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS) and phone support is available every day from 8 am to 8 pm throughout the testing period. About 2.41 lakh students have registered for CAT 2009. Problems galore for students Even as some students are yet to get their rescheduled date, some live quite far from their centres. This has created anxiety as many feel they may not be able to go there but some are willing to go that extra mile as they've invested a lot of effort already. Ashish Jain, an engineering student in Bhopal, said he was supposed to take the test on November 29 but couldn't take it due to a technical snag. On Friday, he received a mail from Prometric saying his rescheduled date is December 7 in Lucknow. When he called the CAT Candidate Care, the agent told him it was unlikely that he would be allotted a Bhopal centre. "My college test starts on December 8. I've put in a year of hard work preparing for CAT. I have no other option but to go for Lucknow if it's not changed," he said. Ashish may have decided to go but for Jairam, another engineering student from Bhopal, the rescheduled date proved to be disastrous as his name was missing from the list in spite of his getting an email from Prometric. "My test was rescheduled on Friday in Guwahati. I called the helpline in the morning and asked them to reschedule it to any centre near Bhopal. They gave the 3.30 pm slot on Friday. When I went there, they said I can't take the test as my name was not in the list. They made me wait for more than 1 hour and then asked me to call the helpline again. However, they have given me a new time and date -- 10 am on December 7. I hope it works this time. It's so frustating," Jairam added. Some students are in a worse position -- they're yet to get a communication from Prometric. "I'm very upset. I was supposed to give the test on November 28 but when I went to the test centre the security staff told me the test has been cancelled. I called the helpline on November 30 and they informed me the rescheduled date would be sent through either SMS or email. Till date, I have not got any information. They don't reply properly to our calls," said Shireen Khan, an IT graduate from Manipal. Even as students waiting for their reschedule date, Manoj (name changed) got the shock of his life on Thursday when he received a reschedule date when he has already given the test. "There is no reason why my test date is rescheduled. I'm trying to contact the helpline but not been able to get a proper answer," he added. Sample of mail received by a student Due to technical related issues, the seat you were scheduled for was closed. We regrettably have rescheduled your CAT 2009 test. An email and sms text will be sent to you with your appointment details. If you have not received this in 24 hours, please contact our CAT Candidate Service helpline. It is not necessary to bring an updated admit card, you can take your old admit card with you to the testing center. Seats are currently very limited and may not be available in the city you wish to test, however, if the rescheduled date/time is not suitable to you, please contact our CAT Candidate Service helpline at 1-800-103-9293. Please do not send an email through the webform. You must speak to a CAT Candidate Service Representative.

Raju Srivastav evicted from ‘Bigg Boss’

Quite unexpectedly, the not-so-controversial Raju Srivastav was evicted out of the ‘Bigg Boss’ house on Friday. However, Vindu Dara Singh and Pravesh Rana, who were nominated for eviction along with Raju last week, are still safe on the show.

Throughout his stay in the house, Raju didn’t really get into any kind of controversy too much, but the stand-up comedian’s acts on the show still did not seem to impress the audience. He jelled well with everyone on the show for quite long, but later got into a little bit of plotting along with Vindu. Nevertheless, Raju managed to survive in the house for nearly 60 days.

One killed in protests against water cuts in Mumbai

One person has died after the police lathi-charged hundreds of people protesting against water cuts in Mumbai. Doctors say the protestor who died suffered minor injuries in the lathi-charge, and was rushed to hospital, where he died of a heart attack.The protests were led by Congress leader Narayan Rane's son, Nitesh Rane; he was arrested along with 23 others, but has been released on bail.The rally, consisting mainly of Rane's supporters, blocked the road outside the city's Civic Headquarters, opposite the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus. The police claims that the crowd was 5000-people strong and was trying to force their way into the Headquarters when the police intervened.Currently, Mumbai is dealing with 15 per cent water cuts, which were announced after a poor monsoon. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has not announced any new cuts, but the Congress wants the current water cuts to be withdrawn.Mumbai's Municipal Corporation is governed by the Shiv Sena, which recently won the Mayor's election - this left the Congress embarrassed, and Thursday's water protests were organized in an attempt to recover some lost ground.In a meeting with municipal officials before the lathi-charge, Nitish Rane demanded that water cuts be reduced from 15 per cent to 10 per cent. Sources say the meeting was a cordial one; and that Rane was told that if water cuts were slashed, the coming summer would see a serious water crisis.

India to help climate but on its own terms: Govt

New Delhi: India is not going to accept any legally binding emission reduction agreement at the Copenhagen climate summit, Minister of State for Environment and Forest Jairam Ramesh told the Lok Sabha on Thursday.
Ramesh was replying to a lively four-hour debate on the climate change and the position India will take at the December 8- 18 international summit.
"India will never accept a legally binding emission reduction agreement," Ramesh said.
"There are some attempts by some countries that developing countries should announce when their emissions will peak. We will not sign a peaking year agreement. This is not acceptable. There is no question on compromising on these two non-negotiables but depends on the concessions we get from the international community."
Ramesh said India was most vulnerable to climate change due to four reasons.
First, two-thirds of India's population was still dependent on the monsoon, which was impacted by climate change.
Two, climate change impacted the Himalayan glaciers, which were receding, endangering the water flow in the rivers of northern India.
Third, ecologically sensitive areas such as the Western Ghats, the North East, Andamans, Lakshadweep were being impacted by climate change.
Fourth, climate change would exacerbate the effect of mining in forest areas of Jharkhand, Orissa, Chhattisgarh.
Ramesh said the problem was that India had hardly any information of its own on climate change effects, which he called "a pathetic state of affairs". He said most of the information was derived from Western sources and talked of the urgent need to start research and have "our own scientific capacity" to study all aspects of climate change in India.

Bajaj Auto to launch 'Baby' Pulsar

A brand was born and today the Pulsar name is synonymous with speed, sport and riding thrill. The first Pulsar was a 150cc machine that immediately took on the CBZ from Hero Honda. Bajaj pursued this line of thought and over the years the company has introduced a number of variants on the Pulsar brand which include a 180cc model, 200cc model and the recently launched 220cc, which incidentally is the fastest Indian motorcycle present in the country.

Contrary to pushing up the ladder, Bajaj is now looking at a whole new segment yet again! The company will roll out a 'baby' Pulsar on December 9th, and with D-Day not too far away, the biking community is already buzzing with action wondering just what this new bike is.

As far as the bike is concerned, we too are waiting for the wraps to come off, however what we do know is that this new bike is going to sport a sub 150cc engine, yet retain elements of sportiness, style and performance. Downsizing might be a mantra in the market right now, but I wouldn't write off this bike just because its going to come with a smaller engine for it totally depends on the state of tuning that the bike sports which will eventually determine its performance capabilities. One can expect the design and styling to be spot on with the necessary oomph factor that the Pulsar brand offers. The new bike is also a big step towards democratizing the thrill of performance biking and making it easier for someone to step up onto the leisure biking bandwagon.

On a corporate level, Bajaj is looking at crossing the 1 million bike mark post the launch of this new model.

It's almost December and we won't have to wait much longer to figure out what this new bike packs. Stay tuned