Mallaya Sr meets Sharad Pawar to back Lalit Modi in IPL issue

According to reliable sources, the Royal Challengers owner wanted Mr Pawar to back Mr Lalit Modi and allow him to have his say in the controversy.

After Indian Premier League (IPL) Chairman Lalit Modi met Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar in New Delhi, it was the turn of liquor baron and owner of Royal Challengers Bangalore Vijay Mallya.

Mr. Mallya met Mr. Pawar at his residence here on Saturday to discuss supporting Mr. Modi, and the allegations of match-fixing that dog the event.

BSNL introduces VDSL tech in India

Public sector telecom giant Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has won the race becoming the first internet service provider to offer the fastest broadband speed in the country by servicing customers broadband connection speed up to 24 Mbps.

BSNL will now initiate with offering this high speed broadband service through the high speed digital subscriber loop (VDSL) technology.

YouTube's movie rental Llibrary grows quietly

It looks like YouTube is expanding its quiet and low-profile movie rental service. In addition to the movies from the Sundance Festival that were added back in January of the current year, the website is now also offering selections from over 500 other content partners. And what is interesting is that not all of them are flicks which can be termed "obscure".

A glance through the YouTube "store" reveals that popular movies like Reservoir Dogs, Precious, Pi and The Cove are listed and can be rented.

ISP launches solution which classifies WebSites for Age category

Reports have revealed that Tibboh, a new Internet Service Provider, or ISP, has joined hands with the British Board of Film Classification with the aim to classify about 3 billion websites by placing on them age restrictions akin to those found in movies. The aim of the complete exercise is to protect youngsters and kids from being exposed to inappropriate content on the internet.

The idea to provide movie-style ratings to websites was first put forward by Professor Tanya Byron in a study report commissioned by the Government on the ways to ensure that the internet and its content is safer for young children.

Bell labs demonstrates Internet speed of 300MbpS

While the National Broadband Networks have been struggling to deliver a speed of just about 100 Mbps over a fiber network which is worth $43 billion, Alcatel - Lucent reportedly has come up with news that their research arm, which is called Bell Labs, has already made a breakthrough by demonstrating speeds of 300 Mbps.

The network that is used seems to be a copper wire and it seems to be quite similar to the network of Telstra who have connected to a lot of business and homes which are situated in Australia.

Credit card data uncovered by a Social networking site

Blippy, Google, and a Midwest bank have been reported for uncovering credit card numbers of four people within Google search results, for over two months.

Blippy, a young start-up that helps people to make social networks around sharing data on purchased goods and services experienced the worst Friday in history.

It was found by VentureBeat that credit card numbers exposed by four Blippy users, could see in Google's search guide.

Jupiter Honda, dealer of Honda motors Ecofriendly appraoch

Jupiter Honda, dealers of Honda Motorcycles, have a launched a new initiative as part of its social responsibility.
Novel approach

It's distributing saplings to every customer who purchases bikes.

“In order to reduce the pollution caused by the carbon dioxide emissions by the two wheelers, we have started distribution of a plant to each customer as per the Honda philosophy of a clean environment,” said Y. Raghu Ram, managing partner of Jupiter Honda.

Uninor's GPRS plan unveiled

Uninor the Youngest GSM Mobile service operator today reportedly unveil its Mobile Internet Services on GPRS for its prepaid subscribers across UP East, UP West, Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh where its GSM Mobile Service is offered today.

The Uninor has offered two data services pack-Data 9 worth Rs 9 valid for 3 days, offering free browsing up to 60 MB and Data 90 priced for a price of Rs 90 valid for 30 days with 3GB of free browsing.

Minor muslim girl sold as a 'Slave Wife' rescued by Women's group in WB

A 16-year-old Muslim girl from West Bengal, who was allegedly sold to live as a “slave wife” with a Dalit man, has been rescued from Ponchhada village in Karauli district of Rajasthan. Women’s groups here say the girl was a victim of a big trafficking network in eastern part of the State where there is a high gender imbalance.

Memi Khatoon, belonging to Nijgaon village in Malda district of West Bengal, was brought to Ponchhada from Delhi about a year ago after allegedly being purchased for Rs.26,000. She was forced to live as a wife with 40-year-old Paramsukh Lal Bairwa and was tortured and confined to his house for doing household chores.

Intex's Dual SIM phone IN2020 to cost Rs.2200

Intex showcased its new Dual SIM mobile phone called IN 2020 in the Indian market. The phone will support two GSM SIM cards catering to customers who use more than one phone connection.

The phone supports expandable memory of upto 2GB and offers GPRS, WAP, QWERTY, chatting, texting and torch light features. The screen of the phone measures 1.8 inches and offers Black List feature.

Air India to operate more flights to help stranded passengers in airports of UK

Air India has planned several additional flights between India, UK and USA with a view to clearing the backlog of passengers stranded at various airports, as a consequence of closure of European Air Space for nearly a week from 15th April 2010.

On Sunday, 25th April 2010, the airline will operate a Mumbai-London-Delhi with a 342 seater Boeing 777-300 ER aircraft. On Monday, 26th April, there will be an additional flight on Delhi-London-Mumbai sector, again with a Boeing 777-300 ER aircraft.

Army's suspected firing kills - sparks violence

An alleged timber smuggler was today killed and another injured in firing by security personnel who suspected them to be militants, sparking violent protests in Shopian district.

Army today said it has ordered a high-level inquiry into the incident which occurred in this south Kashmir district, 65 kms from here. Angry residents torched two army vehicles after the killing, prompting the security personnel to open fire which left four persons injured.

LG lauches its 3D Televisions in Indian market

LG Electronics has announced the launch of its 3D LCD TVs in India in partnership with the Valuable Group, a Mumbai-based media company.
The company has procured licences to telecast IPL matches in 3D formats.

LG Electronics will set up its 3D TVs where cricket fans will gather, including restaurants and cinema theatres across the country to coincide with Valuable Group’s live 3D broadcast of the final four games of the Indian Premier League. Making it the first time any sporting event has been broadcast in 3D, the Indian cricket fans will be able to enjoy the action on stunning 3D TV.

HP launches new desktop variants

Hewlett-Packard introduced two new desktop PCs, the enterprise-geared Compaq 6005 Pro Ultra Slim and the consumer-oriented All-in-One, on April 21 along with news of a update to its HP TouchSmart 300 and 600 Series.

The first two PCs put a heavy emphasis on space savings and green design, with energy-efficient power supplies and recyclable shipping materials.

And while the All-in-One and TouchSmart run Intel processors, the Compaq 6005 represents HP's sixth generation of business desktops to feature processors from Advanced Micro Devices.

Investigation claims dozens of lapses on Saras during its test flight

The investigation report of the Saras Light Transport Aircraft (LTA) crash revealed dozens of lapses including an insufficient pre-flight debriefing, a poor telemetry system and lack of crew coordination.

According to a news report by The Hindu, indigenously developed light passenger aircraft Saras had crashed because of incorrect flight procedures set by its designer and adopted by the crew.

ICICI Bk relaunced its teaser Home loan rates

 Country’s largest private sector lender ICICI Bank has re-launched its special home loan plan, also called teaser rates, to attract property buyers.

“Mortgages continue to be a focus area for ICICI Bank. We offer competitive rates in the market and currently the rates are 8.25 per cent for first year, 9 per cent for the second year and the existing floating rate thereafter,” said a spokesperson of ICICI Bank.

Vedanta outsources its Orissa power project to German Based company Evonik

Vedanta Resources has outsourced the operation and maintenance of its Rs 8,200 crore power project in Orissa to Germany-based Evonik Energy.

The operation and maintenance (O&M) agreement was signed between Sterlite Energy, a subsidiary of the metal and mining group, and Evonik Energy Services India, the local arm of the fifth largest power company in Germany.

“Vedanta group is emerging as one of the leading players in the power sector in India and Evonik is one of the largest players in Germany, I think this will result in an excellent relationship between the companies and add lots of value in our power business,” Vedanta Aluminium Ltd (VAL) Director M. Siddiqi said in a statement.

Govt to infuse Rs.150 billion in state run Bks

The cabinet approved infusion of 150 billion rupees ($3.4 bln) in state-run banks during the fiscal year ending March, 2011, to help meet growing credit requirements of the economy, a government statement said.

"The infusion of 150 billion rupees in Tier I capital instruments of PSBs would enable them to expand their credit growth by about 1.85 trillion rupees ($41.6 bln)," the statement said on Friday.

The cabinet also gave its approval for infusion of additional capital in the next financial year after considering the third quarter results of banks in 2010/11.

In February, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had made a provision of 165 billion rupees ($3.7 bln) in the annual budget for state-run banks to ensure that they are able to attain a minimum 8 per cent Tier-I capital by March 31, 2011.

India has signed two agreements with the World Bank for a loan of $3.2 billion to provide additional capital to state-run banks. Formalities for the first tranche of $2 billion have already been completed, it said.

The government expects an infusion of additional capital would also strengthen the Indian banking system, which remained largely unaffected during global financial crisis since September 2008.

India, Asia's third largest economy is expected to grow by around 8.5 percent in 2010/11 and 9 percent in the next financial year as per government estimates.

Govt expects $11Bn in 3G auction

India now expects its third-generation (3G) and broadband spectrum auctions to raise 500 billion rupees ($11.2 billion), much higher than the government's budget estimates of 350 billion rupees, telecommunications minister Andimuthu Raja said on Friday.

On Thursday, Raja had said he expected the auctions to raise 450 billion rupees. "Everyday it is going up," he told reporters outside the parliament on Friday, referring to the bids for 3G spectrum, for which the auction is currently on. India kicked off a closely-watched multi-billion dollar spectrum acution on April 9 which would enable telecom firms in India offer premium third-generation services.

One day Strike in Kashmir against death sentence

A one-day strike brought Kashmir to a standstill Friday, in a protest at the death sentences handed to three members of a separatist group who bombed a New Delhi market in 1996.

The three members of a Kashmiri group called the Islamic Front -- two Kashmiris and a Muslim resident of New Delhi -- were sentenced to death Thursday by a court in New Delhi.