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Modi gets his message across in Silicon Valley…”Make in India” and “Digital India “

September 28, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Cisco’s John T. Chambers, Microsoft’s Satya Nadella, Qualcomm’s Paul E. Jacobs and Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai during the Digital India dinner function in San Jose. Photo: PTI

Midway through his second visit to the US, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has already addressed three of the four major constituencies he planned to reach out to—at the bilateral, multilateral and Indian diaspora levels.

The fourth—the US leadership—is next in line, say analysts.

At the multilateral level, Modi addressed the United Nations (UN) General Assembly where he spelt out the need for “climate justice” and chaired a meeting of Brazil, Germany, India and Japan—four nations that have demanded a place for themselves as permanent members of a revamped UN Security Council.

Before leaving the US, Modi is also set to address a conference on UN peacekeeping—a global duty that is substantially underpinned by Indian contributions.

On the bilateral economic front, Modi has held meetings with key US business leaders, seeking and enlisting their support for his “Make in India” and “Digital India” campaigns.

That a number of chief executive officers (CEOs) in Silicon Valley are Americans of Indian origin helped Modi link up with the diaspora—the third key constituency that he has reached out to on all his trips abroad. Modi was set to address an audience of 20,000 people of Indian origin in California on Sunday.

The fourth constituency is the US establishment, and Modi will be meeting US President Barack Obama overnight Monday before heading home.

Former foreign secretary Lalit Mansingh noted that Modi’s six-day US trip had a multilateral component focused on key foreign policy issues such as the revamp of the UN Security Council, while the bilateral agenda with the US was tied to domestic economic issues.

“On the whole, the tenor of the visit has been positive,” Mansingh, also a former Indian ambassador to the US, said on Sunday.

Economy—the key focus area

Arriving in New York late on Wednesday after a brief halt in Ireland, Modi’s first engagements on Thursday were back-to-back meetings with the US business community aimed at burnishing the image of Asia’s third largest economy as an investor-friendly destination. Last week, the Asian Development Bank cut India’s growth projection to 7.4% for 2015-16 from 7.8% predicted earlier. And there has been criticism, albeit muted, that the Modi government, elected to office last May on a pro-jobs and pro-development platform, has been slow in putting in place measures that would spur the economy.

Among those who met the prime minister were Rupert Murdoch, chairman of News Corp.; Ajay Banga, president and CEO of MasterCard who also chairs the US-India Business Council; Marilyn A. Hewson, chairman, president and CEO of Lockheed Martin Corp.; Citigroup chairman Michael O’Neill; Boeing International president Marc Allen, and Goldman Sachs president Gary Cohn. These meetings came on a day the Indian government formally announced that foreign companies without a permanent establishment in India will be exempt from the minimum alternative tax, levied on profit-making entities that do not pay corporate income tax because of exemptions and incentives.

“The idea (behind the intensive engagement with the business community) is that while we have expanded in a significant way our political security and defence cooperation, we need to make enhanced effort in terms of expanding the economic engagement between the two countries,” India’s ambassador to the US, Arun Singh, told reporters last week.

“When President Obama had visited in January, the two leaders had declared a goal of taking our trade relationship to a level of $500 billion from the present level of $120 billion. So, it would be important to see what kind of new opportunities we can create in the economic sector and that is why an important part of Prime Minister’s engagement during his visit to the United States is certainly focusing on the economic sector,” Singh said.

If the emphasis of Thursday’s meetings was on investments and manufacturing, it was Digital India at the weekend, when Modi travelled to California. Digital India is the Prime Minister’s flagship programme seeking to promote the use of technology to deliver governance and services. Those who met Modi included John Chambers, executive chairman of Cisco Systems; Paul Jacobs, executive chairman of Qualcomm who announced a $150 million investment in Indian start-ups; Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft; Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google; Shantanu Narayen, president and CEO of Adobe; and Venk Shukla, president and trustee of Silicon Valley at The Indus Entrepreneurs, a group representing tech entrepreneurs.

“Today, more than 15% start-ups in Silicon Valley are attributed to Indian-origin tech entrepreneurs. Therefore, this is an additional dimension to the potential for cooperation between India and the United States,” ambassador Singh told reporters, underlining the potential role of the diaspora in the digital India initiative.

Ahead of the meeting with the leading lights of the Silicon Valley, Modi received Tim Cook, CEO of technology giant Apple, and invited the company to start manufacturing in India under the Make in India initiative that aims to boost India as a global manufacturing hub. Modi also visited Tesla Motors Inc., which designs and manufactures premium electric vehicles on Saturday, a visit that underlined the India’s growing emphasis on renewable energy, including plans to generate 100,000 megawatts solar power by 2022.

“The Prime Minister heard them and their concerns. How he deals with the problems once he is back home is to be seen,” Mansingh said.

At the UN

At the multilateral level, Modi has had two major engagements. On Friday he addressed the UN General Assembly on the occasion of the world community adopting the Sustainable Development Goals that aim to reduce global poverty. The second was early Saturday when he chaired a meeting of the Group of Four (G4) countries—Brazil, Germany, India and Japan—that seek to become permanent members of the UN Security Council.

In his address to the UN General Assembly, Modi spoke of how many of the initiatives launched by the Indian government—financial inclusion, education and skill development and pension schemes for the vulnerable—mirrored the Sustainable Development Goals. With an eye on the Paris climate change conference scheduled later this year in Paris, Modi urged developed nations to transfer technology, innovation and finances to developing countries in order to tackle the challenge of climate change.

Highlighting India’s plans to produce 175 gigawatts of electricity by 2022 through renewable energy sources, energy efficiency measures, improving public transportation, cleaning up cities and rivers, and the waste-to-wealth project, Modi said: “The objective of our collective efforts is common but differentiated responsibilities.” The principle institutionalizes the idea that rich nations must bear historical responsibility for global warming and therefore must take the global lead in efforts to reduce carbon emissions that cause climate change.

“Climate justice” was appropriate to taking the concerns of the poor in sustainable development, Modi said.

Modi also used the UN platform to stress the need to reform the Security Council, seven decades after the body was constituted at the end of the Second World War. “We must reform the UN and the Security Council. This is essential so that the institutions have greater credibility and legitimacy. With a broad-based representation, we will be more effective in achieving our goals,” Modi said.

To drive the message home, Modi invited Brazilian President Dilma Rouseff, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to a summit level conference of the G4 countries pushing for the reform of the UN Security Council. The four countries support each other’s candidature for permanent membership of a reformed UN Security Council and, in a joint statement, sought such reform “within a fixed time frame”.

This is the first summit of the four countries in a decade and comes against the backdrop of the previous 69th UN General Assembly deciding earlier this month to begin negotiations based on a broadly agreed text on reforming the Security Council. “With this summit, I think the prime minister has underlined this as a key foreign policy objective,” Mansingh said.

Modi’s last few engagements on Monday include a meeting with President Obama in New York and a separate meeting of countries that send troops for UN peacekeeping missions.

Elizabeth Roche….www. livemint.com

Natarajan

Images of the Day… Super Moon Night …!!!

September 28, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

The moon is seen against the peak of the tomb of Jama Masjid in New Delhi. Picture: AFP / Chandan KhannaSource:AFP

The full moon is seen on the city skyline as Indian devotees carry statues of elephant-headed Hindu god Lord Ganesha for immersion in the Arabian Sea in Mumbai. Picture: AFP / Punit ParanjpeSource:AFP

An Indian man leans on a wall on top of a building in New Delhi as the moon does time as a backdrop. Picture: AFP / Roberto SchmidtSource:AFP

A full moon shines behind a tower of the Jama Masjid mosque in New Delhi. Picture: AFP / Roberto SchmidtSource:AFP

Source…..www.news.com.au

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The Best Pictures of the Super Moon….

September 27, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

Hello pretty … the full moon rises between clouds in Berlin. Picture: AP Photo/Gero Breloer

LAST night’s spectacular full moon was a treat for many Australian skywatchers, but in other parts of the world it was merely the overture to a total lunar eclipse.

When a full or new moon makes its closest approach to Earth, that’s a supermoon. A combination of a supermoon and a total lunar eclipse has not been seen since 1982 and will not happen again until 2033.

The supermoon rises behind Glastonbury Tor in Somerset, England. Picture: Matt Cardy/Getty ImagesSource:Getty Images

A flock of birds fly by as a perigee moon, also known as a super moon, rises in Mir, Belarus. Picture: AP / Sergei GritsSource:AP

A perigee moon rises in the sky above the La Concha Beach, in San Sebastian, northern Spain. Picture: AP Photo/Alvaro BarrientosSource:AP

Although still about 220,000 miles (354,055 km) away, it was still the closest full moon of the year, about 30,000 miles (48,280km) closer than the average distance. (The moon’s orbit is far from a perfect circle.)

Skywatchers in North and South America, Europe, Africa and western Asia are expected to be able to see the lunar eclipse, when the moon, Earth and sun will be lined up, with Earth’s shadow totally obscuring the moon

The moon is seen against the peak of the tomb of Jama Masjid in New Delhi. Picture: AFP / Chandan KhannaSource:AFP

The full moon rises behind Lisbon’s St. George castle. Picture: AP / Armando FrancaSource:AP

The event is due to happen at 10.11pm on America’s east coast (12pm AEST) and the ellipse should be visible for more than an hour, weather permitting.

There won’t be another total lunar eclipse until 2018.

This eclipse marks the end of a tetrad, or series of four total lunar eclipses set six months apart. This series began in April 2014.

The 21st century will see eight of these tetrads, an uncommonly good run. From 1600 to 1900, there were none.

NASA planetary scientist Noah Petro is hoping the celestial event will ignite more interest in the moon. He is deputy project scientist for the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO, which has been studying the moon from lunar orbit since 2009.

Rising big and full in Lausanne, Switzerland. Picture: AFP / Fabrice CoffriniSource:AFP

An Indian man leans on a wall on top of a building in New Delhi as the moon does time as a backdrop. Picture: AFP / Roberto SchmidtSource:AFP

A full moon shines behind a tower of the Jama Masjid mosque in New Delhi. Picture: AFP / Roberto SchmidtSource:AFP

“The moon’s a dynamic place,” Petro said Wednesday. “We’re seeing changes on the surface of the moon from LRO. We’re seeing that it’s not this static dead body in the sky … it’s this great astronomical object that we have in our backyard, essentially. So people should get out and start looking at it.”

Many stargazers, professional and amateur alike, dislike the term “supermoon,” noting the visible difference between a moon and supermoon is slight to all but the most faithful observers.

“It’s not like the difference between an ordinary man and Superman,” said Alan MacRobert, a senior editor at Sky & Telescope magazine. “It really ought to be called a tiny, slightly little bit bigger moon, rather than the supermoon.”

People watch a full moon rising in Berlin. Picture: AP Photo/Gero BreloerSource:AP

Source….www.news.com.au

Natarajan

This Artist Decided To Bring A Van Gogh Painting To Life In A Very Literal Way…

September 27, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

Flying into Minneapolis, you might be surprised to find yourself face-to-face with a Van Gogh painting — one that stretches out over more than a square acre of land. The unique thing about this version of the painting is that it is etched directly into the ground.

Vimeo / Minneapolis Institute of Art

This is the latest project by landscape artist Stan Herd, who uses fields as canvases to create large-scale interpretations of art. He recreates famous pieces (like the Van Gogh painting seen here) and even works on some originals. They’re unique because they can only be seen in full from the air.

This piece is composed of different plants, tracks, and soil patterns. Herd used grass of different lengths to create various tones and values.

This is the painting that Herd recreated with living plants.

Wikimedia Commons

It’s Vincent Van Gogh’s 1889 piece called Olive Trees.

First, the painting was measured and the land was parceled out.

Vimeo / Minneapolis Institute of Art

The grid you see on the print helped Herd and his team create a scale model.

After that, the real work began.

Vimeo / Minneapolis Institute of Art

This piece of landscaping art is located near an airport in Minneapolis, and it’s visible to passengers as they enter the city. Herd has been working on these landscaping projects, which he calls “earthworks,” since 1981.

The project was commissioned by the Minneapolis Institute of Art (which is home to the original painting) in an effort to get people excited about visiting the city.

Each element of the painting had to be carefully planned out to ensure that the proportions were right.

Vimeo / Minneapolis Institute of Art

Creating an earthwork like this is no simple feat, and it requires a lot of physical labor.

Vimeo / Minneapolis Institute of Art

And this isn’t even the largest earthwork that Herd has created.

Vimeo / Minneapolis Institute of Art

In the early 1980s, he made one that covered 160 acres of land in Kansas.

With patience and hard work, the image started coming together.

Vimeo / Minneapolis Institute of Art

(via Colossal)

The Van Gogh earthwork will be on display near the airport throughout the autumn season. Herd plans to mow down the creation when winter arrives, but even his method of destruction is symbolic. He will remove the earthwork in a concentric circle pattern that mimics Van Gogh’s painting method.

You can see more of Herd’s earthworks on his website, and learn more about the original Van Gogh painting from the Minneapolis Institute of Art. If you happen to fly into Minneapolis this fall, snap a picture of the field and share it with the tags #BDayMia and #vangrow.\

Source….www.viralnova.com

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Da Vinci’s Inventions that Were Ahead of their Time….

September 27, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

When I hear the name Leonardo Da Vinci, my first associations are his incredible works of art, such as “The Mona Lisa” or “The Last Supper”. Da Vinci, however, was a man of many talents and not just a mere painter – he was also a prolific inventor who came up with concepts that were so advanced, they could only have been realized in our time.

Da Vinci used to write down his ideas and sketch designs in his notebook; most of them were preserved after his death in 1519. There isn’t any evidence that most of Da Vinci’s inventions were constructed during his lifetime, but these 6 designs most definitely were centuries ahead of their time.

Da Vinci's Inventions

The Flying Machine

Da Vinci's Inventions

Da Vinci had hundreds of sketches in his notebook that revolved around flight. The design he put most of his time into, was based off of the body structure of birds and bats.

The design included a set of very large wings, attached to a wooden frame where the pilot is meant to lie down on his stomach and control the device with some levers. Sadly, Da Vinci never constructed the flying machine, and experts claim that even if he did – it wouldn’t be able to get off the ground or sustain flight without an engine.

It took 400 years until people managed to build a machine that can actually fly.

Da Vinci's Inventions

Da Vinci’s Tank

Da Vinci's Inventions

Most people consider Da Vinci to be a delicate soul, mainly concerned with creating art. Da Vinci was also heavily involved in military technologies, and one of his greatest patrons, Ludovico Sforza, the duke of Milan was the man entrusted with defending Italy from the invading French army.

To receive Sforza’s financial patronage, Da Vinci designed a variety of military contraption, an armored tank being one of them. The invention included a human-powered carriage, covered in sheets of metal with slits that would allow Italian soldiers to fire their rifles safely.

Like his flying machine, Da Vinci’s tank also never saw the light of day. 400 years later, tanks became commonplace in all of the world’s armies.

Da Vinci's Inventions

Diving Suit

Da Vinci's Inventions

Even though he wasn’t the first person to come up with the idea of a diving suit, his design was the most ingenious and advanced for its time. According to his sketches, the suit was to be made almost entirely of leather and included a full body combination of a jacket, pants and a helmet with tiny glass windows. Air was to be kept in the front bulge of the jacket with tubes attached to the mask to allow the diver to breath.

The suit even had a small compartment for urine collection, because Da Vinci didn’t know how long the diver will have to remain underwater. Special pockets for various tools were also designed into the suit, including a knife, and even a horn he can blow to signal he needs to surface.

It was not until Jacque Cousteau invented the “water lung” in the middle of the 20th-cetury that diving suits became common.

Da Vinci's Inventions

The Machine Gun

Da Vinci's Inventions

Another one of Da Vinci’s ingenious military designs was the machine gun, which has some resemblance to modern-day weapons. The design was for a typical cannon, but with 12 barrels. The device could shoot one cannonball, then quickly be moved to the next loaded barrel and show again, as the used barrel is being loaded.

This design was also never constructed during Da Vinci’s lifetime, and the first modern machinegun appeared on the battlefield in 1862, during the American Civil War.

Da Vinci's Inventions

The City of the Future

Da Vinci's Inventions

During the 15th-century, Europe was still recovering from the black plague, which annihilated more than a third of Europe’s population. Da Vinci noticed that cities were more vulnerable to the plague in comparison with rural areas and hypothesized that the cause if how cities were constructed, making them more vulnerable.

The solution was a whole new futuristic city, full designed from top to bottom to provide the best sanitary conditions to the inhabitants. Da Vinci’s City of the Future was divided to several “layers”. Anything that was considered to be unhygienic would be located at the bottom layer, to be evacuated via canals. Each part of the city would enjoy running water thanks to an intricate hydraulic system that also served as the basis of modern plumbing.

The result was a marvel of city planning, but its construction was beyond Da Vinci’s means, and he couldn’t find a patron that would support his endeavors.

Da Vinci's Inventions

The Robotic Knight

Da Vinci's Inventions

Even today, autonomous, human-like robots seem like a piece of science fiction, but under Sforza’s patronage, Da Vinci invented a “Mechanical Knight”, which was supposedly capable of moving its arms, neck and even open and close its “mouth”. This strange mechanical doll was controlled via external cables that were attached to sets of pulleys inside the robot’s body.

The design was discovered nearly 450 years later and in 2002, a functioning replica of the “Robotic Knight” was built by Mark Rosheim – A robotics researcher from NASA.

Da Vinci's Inventions

Source…..www.ba-bamail.com

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Banana Peels ….Not only edible but also Nutricious….

September 27, 2015Natarajan1 Comment

That’s right, you can eat banana peels. And not only are they edible, they’re also good for you.

If you live in the US, you’re probably used to tossing banana peels in the trash. But people in other countries, including India, have been taking advantage of their nutritional benefits for decades.

While a banana’s flesh is soft and sweet, the skin is thick, fibrous, and slightly bitter. To eat the peel, you can either blend it into smoothies or fry, bake, or boil them for at least 10 minutes. Heat breaks down the skin’s fibre and loosens up that tough texture, making the peel easier to chew and digest.

Also, the riper you allow the banana to get, the thinner and sweeter the peel becomes. That’s because of a natural plant hormone called ethylene that fruits release as they ripen.

Ethylene interacts with the sugars and fibre in the banana skin, changing complex sugars into simple sugars and breaking down pectin, a form of fibre in bananas that keeps them stiff. That’s why the older your banana is, the flimsier it feels. At the same time, other hormones break down the green pigments in the peel, turning them yellow and eventually brown.

Nutritional benefits

The sweet flesh of a medium-sized banana contains significant percentages of your daily recommended intake of various nutrients, such as:

12% of your daily fibre, which helps with digestion and may help lower your risk of diabetes
17% of your vitamin C, which is important for your immune system as well as growth and development
20% of your vitamin B-6, which aids the body’s ability to convert food into energy
12% of your potassium, which helps in development of cells, tissues, and organs throughout the body
8% of your magnesium, which is important for the body’s energy productions and regulating glucose and blood pressure levels

If you then eat the skin along with the flesh you get an even bigger boost in these same nutrients:

“[The skin] contains high amounts of vitamin B6 and B12, as well as magnesium and potassium. It also contains some fibre and protein,” San Diego-based nutritionist Laura Flores toldLiveScience.

Eating the peel is not only good for your body but also better for the environment.

In 2013, bananas were America’s most-popular fresh fruit. The average American ate 11.4 pounds of bananas over the course of that year.

Since a medium-sized banana weighs about 0.3 pounds, that equates to about 38 bananas per person, or roughly 12 billion for the whole US. And since most of us toss the peel, that also means a lot of organic waste. Most of this waste goes to landfills, but some of it is used asfertiliser, in water purification, and in composting.

Other uses for the incredible banana peel

If you can’t stomach the thought of eating a banana peel, then consider some of the many other ways you can re-use this valuable product of nature. Here are a few of the 16 ways that health and wellness website Natural Living Ideas suggests:

Add a few slices of banana peel to a bucket of water and let the mixture sit for a couple of days. Use this to water your planets. The added nutrients from the banana will keep your plants growing strong.
You can make banana vinegar from the peels that can then be added to salads and vegetables. See the recipe instructions here.
Place your meat atop a ripe banana peel in your roasting pan to keep the meat moist and tender as it cooks.

Whether you’re gnawing on a raw peel or using it in your cooking, always make sure to wash it thoroughly.

Source…JESSICA ORWIG …….www.businessinsider.com.au

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Did You Know? There Is A World Cup For The Homeless & India Put Up An Awesome Show….

September 27, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

Yes, there is a world cup for the homeless and India’s Slum Soccer organisation has represented the country there. What’s more? The men’s team won the Sports Gen cup and the women’s team got the 6th place among 16 participating nations. Here’s more.

Homeless World Cup is an annual football tournament organized by the Homeless World Cup organization – a social movement which inspires homeless people to change their lives with the power of football. They organize an annual football tournament, where teams of homeless people from more than 70 countries get a chance to compete.

In India, selections for the Homeless World Cup begin at the National Slum Soccer Championship every year. Slum Soccer is an Indian organisation which uses football as a tool for social empowerment, to change the lives of street dwellers in the country. An initial lot of 32 players are selected during the championship, in which teams from over 15 states across India participate. The selected players then undergo training at the Nagpur, Chennai and Kolkata centres of Slum Soccer. And then, the final selection takes place.

More than 500 players from 48 teams took part in the 2015 edition of the Homeless World Cup.

This year was the 7th time that the Slum Soccer team represented India in the World Cup which was held in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

The Indian contingent

The Indian men played a total of 12 games against teams like France, Netherlands, Finland, and Grenada. They finally won the SportsGen Cup.

The team led by Sahrul Hoque, defeated Belgium in the quarter-finals 3-2. They faced Israel in the semi-finals and won with a score of 4-2. The final match was against Grenada, one of the best performing teams, and India won 4-3. Players in the team included Mohit Sharma, Saddam Hussain, Shubam Varma, Anikesh Tandekar, P Parthiban, Manikumar, and Ashutosh Bobde.

The Indian women’s team played 13 games in all. They attained the 6th place out of the 16 participating nations.

The team performed really well, defeating England, Finland and Scotland with huge, unexpected margins.

The Homeless Behind The Players

All these players have faced a lot of suffering and struggle. But Slum Soccer helped them in overcoming those days, and leaving their struggles behind. Today, they are making India proud.

P Parthiban: The men team’s defender from Chennai lost his father and a younger sister at a very young age. The hardships he had faced all his life had turned him into a ruffian. It was football that changed his life, and turned him into a winner!

Shubam Varma: A resident of Nagpur, Shubam is the vice-captain of the team. He understands the importance of being a leader, and the kind of roles one has to take up in order to help others, as well as oneself, in taking the right life decisions.

Apeksha Wankhede: She fled from Chandrapur and reached Amsterdam with the help of an NGO, Shivprabha Charitable Trust in Pune. Her mother works as a domestic helper and brother works in a salon. In spite of weak financial conditions, her determination to play for the country has always been strong.

The Captains: Sahrul Hoque

His life took a turn when one of his friends, who had returned after completing his higher education from Nagpur, asked him to contact Mr. Barse of Slum Soccer.

Since then, Sahrul started playing for the Slum Soccer team in Kolkata. He is now coaching 100 slum soccer players in Kolkata.

“I never thought that I would fly to a foreign country. My parents and elder brothers and sisters did not say much as I am the youngest, but they did not like that I was playing football all the time. They called me ‘Khela Pagol’ (mad for sports). But now, they feel proud about me,” he said.

Reena Panchal

Reena comes from Sonipat, Haryana. She had a strong inclination towards football since childhood. Her father worked at a small garment shop as a salesman, and though her family members were supportive, they could not go against the norms of how girls should lead their lives, created by the orthodox villagers.

“My father never differentiated between my brothers and me, but our neighbours called names if I wore trousers to play football. It’s not easy for a girl from Haryana to break the rules and come out of her shell,” says Reena.

She started playing football at school (Hindu Kanya School, Sonipat) without telling anyone at home. But when she got selected to play at the national level, she had to tell. Her coach, Mr. Ankush Mallik, convinced her parents, and she nailed it at the game.

Reena could not stop thanking Slum Soccer, who not only gave her the opportunity to play, but also made her the captain of the team.

“Indian team was everyone’s favourite at the Homeless World Cup. I wore the No.5 jersey and everyone used to say No.5 plays really well. I can’t express in words how happy I am to represent India in the world cup. It was always a dream. A few months back I couldn’t even think that I will be awarded as the ‘best player’”

21-year-old Reena, who is the top goal scorer in the team, is an arts graduate and has also done a diploma in Bachelors of Physical Education (B.PED).

She wants to help other girls in her village to come out and build a future of their own. She wants to make them realize that if they get an opportunity they should just grab it.

“There’s nothing better than the feeling of representing India in front of the world and Slum Soccer made this dream come true. There can be no other organization like Slum Soccer. I want everyone to learn from them that even the underprivileged part of our society is talented and one should help them grow too,” she concludes.

Slum Soccer has been discovering many such gems from the past seven years. But it’s an irony that every year they have to ask for financial help from different NGOs.

We have been doing the entire event, including the training with the help of online fund raising. Last year Ashok Leyland helped us and this time keto.org came forward. I wish the Indian government too helped our team, just like the Scotland team is funded by their government as a part of their common wealth youth development program,” says Abhijeet Barse

Mr. Barse, however, praises the police department, which really helps them with the documentation work for the players.

About the author: A mechanical engineer, Manabi Katoch has been brought up listening to Tagore’s poems and stories, so she is kind of an emotional person within. She loves writing poems and stories on social and political issues. Few of her poems can be viewed on http://www.poemocean.com and satires on http://www.mindthenews.com. She has worked with Wipro, Frankfinn and Educomp in the past.

Source…..Manabi Katoch….www.the better india .com

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From Kolli Hills to Italy, two women win hearts with ‘Murukku’….

September 27, 2015September 27, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

‘I had to stop going to school after 7th standard as my parents did not have enough money to even feed us’

‘I was just an uneducated and poor farmer till I joined the self-help group. Going to a foreign country to highlight our achievements was a dream come true’

‘My dream is to see all women like me who live in villages to come up in life and be independent’

Malliga and Jayalalitha talk to Shobha Warrier/Rediff.com about how millet farming changed their lives, their successful trip to Milan and how their ‘murukku’ was appreciated at Milan.

Image: Malliga Seerangan and Jayalalitha Easwaran in Chennai. Photograph: Ramesh Damodaran

The journey from a remote village in Kolli Hills in Namakkal district of Tamil Nadu to flashy Milan has been an unforgettable experience for Malliga Seerangan and Jayalalitha Easwaran.

Their background is similar – poverty, no education and cut off from development. But today the success story of the two women, 35-year-old Malliga Seerangan and 27-year-old Jayalalitha Easwaran, is an inspiring lesson in women empowerment.

These two women are part of a self-help group supported by by the MS Swaminathan Research Foundation, that promotes biodiversity through farming. They were in Milan to attend an event on ‘Agricultural biodiversity, value chains and women’s empowerment’ organised by Bio Diversity International, on September 17.

The event was organised to celebrate the women ‘who grow, harvest, process, cook, buy or sell a variety of food and agricultural products to sustain their families and contribute towards conservation of agricultural biodiversity’.

“Women and agricultural biodiversity are closely linked,” say the organisers. So both Malliga and Jayalalitha were the right people to represent what the event stood for; Agricultural biodiversity, value chains and women’s empowerment.

Image: Malliga (second from left) and Jayalalitha in Milan. Photograph, courtesy: MSSRF

It was their first trip abroad and accompanying them was Dr Oliver King of the MS Swaminathan Research Foundation. MSSRF is playing a key role in transforming the lives of many women by promoting different types of millet cultivation — little millet, Italian millet, finger millet, common millet, and Kodo millet under different agro-climatological and landscape conditions.

The organisation has helped them follow locally suited traditional agricultural practices like inter-cropping, multiple cropping, mixed cropping and crop rotation based on soil types and rainfall pattern focussing on the food and nutritional security of the people. For example, mixed cropping is practised to maintain the family’s food security.

The nutritious products made from millet are sold through Kolli Hills Agro Biodiversity Conservers Federation (KHABCoFED) in attractive packs as organic food in nearby cities. MSSRF follows the four ‘C’s: conservation, cultivation, consumption and commercialisation.

Image: Millet farming transforms the lives of farmers. Photograph, courtesy: MSSRF

How millet farming transformed Malliga Seerangan’s life

‘My family has been involved in farming for many generations and I grew up seeing my grandparents going to the fields. From the time I could remember, I was also helping them and my parents in the fields.

‘I had to stop going to school after 7th standard as there was not enough money to even feed us. We had a small farmland. Since there was no market for millets, naturally there was not much income from farming. I continued doing the same work after getting married.

‘People in and around Kolli Hills do only farming and that too, only ragi and samai. There was a time when we farmed just enough for us to consume, and nothing more than that.

Today, we are farming six varieties of millets, thanks to MS Swaminathan Research Foundation which came to our village around 15-20 years ago. Other than helping the farmers in cultivating, they also helped us start small self help groups groups of men and women.

‘There are more than 1500 farmers in our small region itself and each group consists of 13 women. I am the head of our group.

‘We pool in small amounts of money and put it in the bank, and then each member can take a loan for farming. Earlier, we didn’t even have a bank account, nor did we know how operate an account.

‘They also taught us how to do farming depending on the weather. We had no knowledge of good farming practices. Now, we are producing several folds of different varieties of millets.

Image: The murukkus turned out to be a big hit at Milan. Photograph, courtesy: MSSRF

‘Earlier, we had to grind millets physically which involved hard labour but today MSSRF have installed mills so that in less than half an hour, the powder is ready.

‘They also taught us how different products can be made of these millets to make it popular among people. We were used to eating them as it is but today, we make and sell products like millet rice, ragi murukku in attractive packs.

‘Now, we know that these millets have high iron content and are excellent for good health. You won’t believe, not a single person is diabetic in our village, and it is only because we have been consuming millets for generations.

Today, even city-dwellers have understood the health benefits of millets. They make tasty upma so children also enjoy eating it. Our ragi malt powder, murukku powder, samai, etc are available in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka under the Kolli Hills brand.

‘Life has changed for us after all this! We had no voice in those days; we never went to the market alone. Today, we go to the market with our products.

We have our own bank accounts and we need not beg for money from our husbands. If you take the case of our group itself, all of us make a profit of Rs 2500-3000 every month and each one of us deposits Rs 100 in our group.

‘Now, after taking care of the household needs, I can buy saris and jewellery with my own money. I am able to educate my children better.

‘My dream is give as much education to my children as possible. I could not study much but I do not want my children to have the same fate. I want them to do better in life.

‘Till the groups were formed, there was no respect for women; now the men in our village know that we are as capable or better than them.

‘We are financially independent as well. We operate bank accounts, deposit and withdraw money. We take loans and also repay them. We know to do all these things without anybody’s help now.

‘We also have the knowledge about millets and can talk to people about its nutritive values.

‘From being confined to the four walls of the house, if women in our village have progressed today, it is all because of MSSRF urging us to form groups, helping us diversify and selling our products in the markets.

If you take my case, till they came, I had not even stepped out of the village. Now, I got the opportunity to travel to Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai and for the first time abroad too.

‘When I got into the flight the first time when I went to Delhi, I just couldn’t believe it.

‘This time, when we were going to Milan, I thought it was a dream. I am just a small, uneducated farmer who was born in a very poor home, and here I was going to a foreign country to show them what we do.

‘We were asked to make ‘murukku’ for the delegates there. All of them enjoyed eating our ‘murukku’. We made around 50 murukkus and they got over in no time, and we felt really happy and excited about it.

‘They took photographs and videos of us making ‘murukku’. They had so many questions for us and as we don’t understand English, Sir (Oliver King) played the role of an interpreter. I have no words to express my happiness. It was an overwhelming experience.

‘Then, we went around sightseeing. I am so impressed with the cleanliness of the city. I did not spot any garbage on the road and I didn’t see anyone throwing anything on the road.
‘They have built good footpaths for people and I also liked the pedestrian crossings. Here, we have to run to cross the road but there the vehicles stopped for us.

‘After seeing Milan, I wondered why we can’t keep our cities clean. I really liked their city better than ours.’

Image: When they appreciated the ‘murukkus’ we made, I felt extremely happy, says Malliga. Photograph, courtesy: MSSRF

A life changing experience for Jayalalitha Easwaran

‘In our village, everybody has been farming since generations. Though I helped my parents as a child in the farm, I got involved in farming actively 10 years ago.

‘Malliga Akka who was my neighbour told me to join the self help group started by MSSRF, and from then on my life changed completely. She told young women like me that if we join the group and start working we would become independent and capable.

‘I was just a school drop-out who had no confidence to even to talk to strangers but today, I can confidently talk about the importance of eating millets and its health benefits.

‘I go to the bank all alone, I have learnt to open an account and operate it. I also take loan from the bank, repay it on time and manage my finances well.

‘Till I joined the group, I was an illiterate young girl confined to my home. I had to depend on my husband for money.

‘Today, I manage my household expenses with the money I earn from my work. My husband is also proud of me!

‘Earlier, we had to physically plough the field, now with the machines given by MSSRF, we do not have to labour so hard.

Similarly, they have installed grinding machines to powder millets. All these have helped in our work tremendously. We concentrate mainly on ragi malt and ragi murukku and sell them in attractive packets in 15 markets.

‘It’s only because of MSSRF that I travelled to Mumbai in a flight for the first time in my life. Till then, I had not stepped out of our village.

‘Now, I have gone to a foreign land also. I cannot explain how excited I was about the trip.

‘I could not believe that a school drop-out like me could go abroad to showcase what we make. I had never dreamt that I would have such good fortune.

‘When they appreciated the ‘murukkus’ we made, I felt extremely happy.

‘My dream is to see all women like me who live in villages to come up in life and be independent.’

Source…….Shobha Warrier /www. Rediff.com

Natarajan

Now, fly from Delhi to San Francisco non-stop on Air India….

September 27, 2015September 27, 2015Natarajan1 Comment

Air India is planning to launch a direct flight between New Delhi and San Francisco in December. The thrice-a-week flight, which will cover the distance in 16 hours, will be the first direct flight between India and the US west coast.

On the San Francisco route, Air India will use its three Boeing 777-200LR aircraft.

Sources said the airline had already secured slots at the San Francisco airport and was planning for a December launch. “It will be a Delhi-San Francisco flight and we are working on hub-and-spoke connections,” said a senior airline executive.

Earlier, the airline was considering a Bengaluru-Delhi-San Francisco flight, deploying a Boeing 777 aircraft on the entire route.

Currently, Air India operates daily non-stop flights to Chicago and New York (from New Delhi) and Newark (from Mumbai). The Mumbai-Newark flight, which takes 16 hours, is the longest flight from India as of now.

On the New Delhi-San Francisco route, Air India will compete with major airlines from Europe, the Gulf countries and East Asia. As of early 2014, about 600 passengers travelled daily between Delhi and San Francisco (one-way); all opted for flights that went via another location, according to Delhi International Airport Ltd data.

Air India has three Boeing 777-200LR aircraft, with 238 seats (eight first class; 35 business class and 195 economy class). Currently, these flights are sparingly used on routes to Saudi Arabia. These are among the 68 Boeing planes it ordered in 2005 for long-haul routes. In 2013, Air India sold five planes in this category to Etihad for $68 million. It had said retaining the fuel-guzzling aircraft would have aggravated losses.

Initially, the airline plans to offer a three-class service to San Francisco. The Air India management is also considering reconfiguring its Boeing 777-200LRs through the next few months, doing away with the first class and increasing the economy class seats. In the past, the airline has found it difficult to sell eight first-class seats on the route and occupancy in the premium segment has been poor.

With domestic jet fuel prices down 41 per cent year-on-year, Air India is likely to keep its operating costs down. And, rising passenger demand is likely to boost yields.

Bengaluru and Delhi are the top source markets for San Francisco flights. Air India’s marketing efforts will be weak if passengers from Bengaluru have to change aircraft in Delhi. Also, rival airlines offer daily connections to San Francisco,” said Devesh Agarwal, editor of Bangalore Aviation, an aviation blog.

In the past, other Indian airlines, too, have explored connectivity with the US west coast. Air India operated flights to Los Angeles through Frankfurt, while Jet Airways briefly flew to San Francisco via Shanghai. Though Kingfisher Airlines considered starting a Bengaluru-San Francisco flight, the plan didn’t take off.
LONGEST FLIGHT ROUTES

Dubai – Panama City: 13,821 km; 17 hrs 35 mins (Emirates)
Dallas – Sydney: 13,802km; 16 hrs 50 mins (Qantas)
Atlanta – Johannesburg: 13,573 km; 16 hrs 40 mins ( Delta)

Note : Emirates proposes to launch a Panama City flight in February 2016; Route planning is automated and routes chosen by airlines vary daily, based on en route wind conditions and the temperature and weather

Source…..www.Aneesh Phadnis ….in www.business-standard.com and http://www.malaymailonline.com

Natarajan

” 1 Cent off Poster ….” !!!

September 26, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

What the? … Shoppers spotted this hilarious sale item is a Woolworths store in Sydney. Picture: Heidi Tiltins

WE all love a good bargain, but this hilarious poster had shoppers scratching their heads yesterday after noticing the ridiculous saving.

The sale item, a ‘Little Live Pets Butterfly House’, was photographed and posted to social media, after being spotted by a number of shoppers at a Woolworths store in Dural in Sydney’s north west.

The deal was also posted on the Woolworths website online.

1 cent saving … the product was also online today on the Woolworths website.Source:Supplied

The ‘Cheap Cheap’ special offered customers a 1 cent discount, reducing the cost from $20 to $19.99.

If our calculations are right, given the 1 cent coin’s withdrawn from circulation in 1992, the cost of the product would be rounded back up to $20 on purchase.!!!

Source….www.news.com.au

Natarajan