Half Of India Is Still In Dark

Blackout Leaves Millions Of People In Darkness

NEW DELHI –  India's energy crisis spread over half the country Tuesday when both its eastern and northern electricity grids collapsed, leaving 600 million people without power in one of the world's biggest-ever blackouts.

The power failure has raised serious concerns about India's outdated infrastructure and the government's inability to meet an insatiable appetite for energy as the country aspires to become a regional economic superpower.

The outage in the eastern grid came just a day after India's northern power grid collapsed for several hours. Indian officials managed to restore power several hours later, but at 1:05 p.m. Tuesday the northern grid collapsed again, said Shailendre Dubey, an official at the Uttar Pradesh Power Corp. in India's largest state. About the same time, the eastern grid failed as well, said S.K. Mohanty, a power official in the eastern state of Orissa. The two grids serve about half India's population.

Traffic lights went out across New Delhi. The city's Metro rail system, which serves about 1.8 million people a day, immediately shut down for the second day in a row. Police said they managed to evacuate Delhi's busy Barakhamba Road station in under half an hour before closing the shutters.

S.K. Jain, 54, said he was on his way to file his income tax return when the Metro closed and now would almost certainly miss the deadline.

The new power failure affected people across 13 states -- more than the entire population of the European Union. They raised concerns about India's outdated infrastructure and its insatiable appetite for energy that the government has been unable to meet.

India's demand for electricity has soared along with its economy in recent years, but utilities have been unable to meet the growing needs. India's Central Electricity Authority reported power deficits of more than 8 percent in recent months.

The power deficit was worsened by a weak monsoon that lowered hydroelectric generation and kept temperatures higher, further increasing electricity usage as people seek to cool off.

But any connection to the grid remains a luxury for many. One-third of India's households do not even have electricity to power a light bulb, according to last year's census.

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People Killed In Numbers as The Express Train to Chennai Catches Fire (Video)

Thirty-two people were killed Monday when an overnight fire ripped through a coach of an express train as it carried sleeping passengers to the southern Indian city of Chennai, officials said.

The accident, on a long-distance service from New Delhi, occurred in the early hours of the morning near the town of Nellore inAndhra Pradesh state with an electrical short-circuit seen as the most likely cause.

Images showed dozens of rescuers, survivors and crowds of onlookers milling around as the blackened and twisted bodies of victims, some burnt beyond recognition, were lifted out and laid in rows alongside the railway line.

Family members of the victims wailed and screamed, while other dazed survivors sat around quietly with their belongings.

"I woke up when people were rushing into our compartment, I was in S-10 which was attached to the S-11 coach that caught fire," passenger Shantanu, who gave only one name, told the NDTV news channel.

"There was smoke all around. We tried to open the emergency window, people jumped out of it."

The central government press office said that 32 people had lost their lives and 25 had been injured, with 500,000 rupees (9,000 dollars) offered to the families of the deceased.

Nellore chief district official B. Sreedhar said preliminary investigations suggested a short circuit near a toilet had triggered the blaze, while Railway Minister Mukul Roy said an investigation was underway.

"Nothing can be excluded and nothing can be said without an investigation," Roy told reporters shortly before rescue officials wrapped up their nearly 12-hour search for bodies.

The train was travelling at 110 kilometres per hour (70 miles per hour) when it passed through Nellore station, where staff noticed the fire and informed the railway authorities.

The burning carriage was quickly detached from the rest of the train which prevented the fire from spreading.

India's accident-prone rail network is still the main form of long-distance travel in the huge country despite fierce competition from private airlines.

While new shiny airport infrastructure is springing up, the Indian railways -- a much-romanticised legacy of British colonial rule -- often appear stuck in a time-warp.

There were two fatal accidents this May alone, including a collision that killed 25 people near the southern city of Bangalore. Four passengers also died after a train derailed in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh sent his condolences over the deaths and has asked the national railways ministry to coordinate the relief effort, his office said.

In March, the then railway minister Dinesh Trivedi unveiled a draft budget for 2012-13 that included a major safety upgrade to be financed by across-the-board fare hikes.

But he was forced to withdraw it and resign after a rebellion from his own populist party, the Trinamool Congress, which objected to increasing ticket prices for the poorest travellers.

The National Crime Records Bureau, which gathers the causes of fatalities across India, says 25,705 people in total died on the railways in 2009.

The data is not broken down, but a vast majority of these deaths are people falling from the open doors of carriages or being hit on the tracks, which are mostly unsecured.

India's worst rail accident was in 1981 when a train plunged into a river in the eastern state of Bihar, killing an estimated 800 people.

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Impossible is nothing!!

This is Natalia Partyka, table tennis player from Poland,who was born without a right hand and forearm, but still managed to qualify for the current London Olympics!

The 23 year old has already beaten Denmark's Mie Skov 4-3 in her game yesterday! Now faces Jie Li of the Netherlands in Sunday's third round.

Natalia Partyka - "When I got home last evening, my father was waiting for me with a recording he did especially for me. (He has been really involved in this entire project since we started it) I really didn’t know what it was so I imagined it was another one of the “How it’s made” shows on Discovery."

Meet Natalia Partyka, a Polish table-tennis player born in 1989. She participates both in competitions for fully bodied athletes as well as in competitions for athletes with disabilities. Not to mention that she is part of the Polish national Olympic team.

Natalia won her first table tennis medal in an international competition in 1999, at the disabled World Championship. She also competed in the 2000 Summer Paralympics in Sydney and  two gold medals  at the European Championships for Cadets, organised by the International Table Tennis Federation, organised for fully bodied athletes. 

A great achievement for her was participating in the 2008 Summer Olympics and Paralimpics in Beijing.

The match I got to see last night was between Natalia and Bernadette Szőcs who represented our country, Romania. As disappointed as I am of Bernadette’s loss, I couldn’t help but to be extremely proud of Natalia, who, with a missing limb managed to defeat Bernadette with a gross difference. Even though I’m sad about my country’s loss I am definitely most happy to see disabled people make such a difference!

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4th ODI: India aim to go for the kill against Sri Lanka

COLOMBO: Trailing in the five-match series and going into the must-win fourth game on Tuesday at the Premadasa, the Sri Lankans are in disarray. 

Their most prolific wicketkeeper-batsman Kumar Sangakara and frontline pacer Nuwan Kulasekara are out with injuries, giving the team a major worry. 

The Sri Lankan coach Graham Ford was candid enough to admit that injuries have set the team back. 

"Yes, losing Sanga is a great blow and without Kulasekara, the bowling resources have also been hit. But on the other hand, it gives us the option to test out the players on the bench. For incoming players it is a good opportunity to showcase their talent." 

"No doubt we are lagging in the series and injuries have taken a toll. But, as we know, the Sri Lankans are great fighters and capable of coming back strongly," the Lanka coach said. 

After having their opponents on the backfoot on home turf, India, on their part, aim to deliver the sucker-punch here itself, before moving to Pallekele for the fifth and final ODI and the one-off T20 game on August 7, which will herald the end of the tour. 

Suresh Raina, talking to the media at the team hotel before leaving for optional practice, said that with momentum on their side, the Indians would look to take an unbeatable lead in the fourth game itself. 

"The difficult run-chase on Saturday night was a big boost to the team morale after the batting disaster in the second game at Hambantota. We aim to tame the Lankans in their den once again, though we realise they will come hard at us after the setback they suffered in the previous game." 

Raina said that there was not much concern in the team about the poor form of key batsmen. "We are a strong batting line up. Two players (Kohli and Gambhir) have already got hundreds and Viru bhai a near-one. 

"I have got a couple of half-centuries. So the batting is looking good. I am sure the others will also come up with good scores in the last two games." 

He also said that the team was not unduly worried about the bowling, especially the pace department. "The pitches here are flat and even a bowler like Malinga goes for 60 or 70 runs. For pacers like Umesh Yadav and Ashok Dinda, it is a great opportunity to learn to bowl on such flat wickets," Raina said while defending the bowlers. 

When Mahendra Singh Dhoni goes in for the toss, there will be great interest to see if Manoj Tiwary will finally get a look-in at the expense of the struggling Rohit Sharma. 

The Mumbai middle order batsmen scored just five in the first game, followed by two ducks. This year he is averaging a bare 16. But the management has been backing his talent to the hilt. So, it will be interesting to see if the team management finally decides to try out Tiwary, who scored a hundred in the last ODI he played over six months ago. 

There is another Sharma who has been in the news for the last couple of months. The lanky Punjab leg-spinner Rahul Sharma, who has been under a cloud after testing positive for drugs at a rave party during the IPL. But he showed great resilience by bowling well in the third game, despite the humiliation of being under investigation for drug-use. 

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India goes gaga over Gagan Narang

LONDON: Gagan Narang is a tall, portly, fair man with red cheeks. He looks like a successful businessman with a relaxed, nonchalant air about him.

The 29-year-old had serious business to attend to on Monday morning. He came to the Royal Artillery Barracks at 9am near Woolswich Arsenal with his air rifle in tow at the 10m hall, and made it do some serious talking at station No. 15.

Three hours later, he was in the final hall and went through a roller coaster ride before firing his last shot and then turning around to wave in relief as a packed hall roared in thunderous approval.

The man from Hyderabad had got that "huge stone off my chest" on his way to clinching India's first medal at the London Games here, a priceless bronze. Beijing gold medallist and defending champion Abhinav Bindra failed to make the final, slipping in the final series with three 9s, succumbing to time pressure.

Narang had won the Asian gold, the Commonwealth gold and even the World championship gold. This was what he wanted desperately. His eyes had spoken volumes four years ago in Beijing when he tied for the eight spot but missed the final berth on a count-back. "My time will come", they said. Well, there were no countbacks on Monday, no nerves, no misgivings -- just plain, simple fearless shooting. And Narang's eyes were shining in relief when he walked out into the mixed zone, a huge smile on his face.

He started off slowly, with perfect scores (100) in the first two series in qualification. Bindra was already finishing his third round. He was fourth and Bindra 10th. Soon, Bindra moved up to seventh after the fourth series while Gagan stumbled. He missed his seventh and last shots in the third series for a 98 and slipped to the 11th spot.

His coach Stanislas Lapidus said something, and he nodded and was back at his business. He was back at No. 6 after the fourth series of 100. He clung on it as the countdown began. "10 minutes to go," said the referee. That was enough for him to finish his series with another perfect score. 598/600 was a brilliant score and he was third in the qualification. He has done the perfect bit (600/600) before but this was a different stage altogether. Bindra had by then picked up his rifle and walked away.

With qualification scores added in the finals, Narang had given himself a shot at the gold. The first two - Italy's Nicolo Campriani and Romania's Alin George Modoveanu - were just a point ahead.

The final, comprising of 10 shots each, swung like a yo-yo. Narang started with a 10.7 and the crowd roared as he moved up to the second spot. His next shot was a poor 9.7 and he was down to fourth.

He then followed it up with 10.6, a 10.7 and 104 and was third, just 0.1 point behind the Italian. He slipped to fourth again after a 9.9 with his seventh spot. Tension was mounting and Narang shot a shocking 9.5.

"It's over man," said an agonizing journalist sitting in the front row. Well, it was not. The others too succumbed to pressure. Narang followed it with a 10.3 and with China's Tao Wang and Dutchman Peter Hellenbrand breathing down his neck, he finished with a 10.7, kick-starting celebrations in the hall packed with Indian journalists, fans and officials.

Narang, unlike Bindra did not hide his emotions. He waved, blew kisses and smiled on the podium like a young boy who had got a long cherished prize - it was a coveted medal and long due.

Critics, these past few years, made him a medal contender and then hanged him saying he was mentally not tough enough. He went into a shell four months ago, refusing to talk to journalists. He refused to reply to mails from Hanover before coming to London. On Monday, he was willing to talk to anyone who chased him, hugged him, kissed him. As he later said, this medal has made him complete.

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Maruti plant may hire 1,000 at Manesar

NEW DELHI: As it looks to resume production and call off the lockdown triggered by workers' voilence  at its Manesar plant, Maruti Suzuki is considering ways to cobble up the much-required man power. 

Besides a fresh round of hiring, the company is looking at a variety of sources, including its Gurgaon plant and vendors, to get workers. 

"The idea is to have a sizeable number of experienced workers who can assist and guide in starting production the moment we are ready for it," an executive said. However, no decision has been taken when the plant can again start production. 

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BMW confident of keeping leadership in luxury car market

NEW DELHI: Audi may be breathing down its neck, but BMW is confident of maintaining its lead in the luxury car market. The German luxury carmaker said it will launch four new cars in India this year as it looks to stave off rising competition and the slowdown in the market.

Hendrik von Kuenheim, BMW's Senior VP for the Asia-Pacific and South Africa region, said that the company has a strategy in place to maintain its lead in the market. "We will be firmly in control and maintain our leadership, even as we recognise the fact that competition is fierce," Kuenheim told TOI here.

While BMW got the top luxury carmaker's crown in India in 2009 after it edged past Mercedes Benz, the company has been facing a stiff competition from Audi lately. In the first six months of this year, Audi sold 4,000 cars at a growth of 43% while for BMW, the volumes declined one per cent, even though it sold 4,457 units.

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RBI lowers growth forecast to 6.5%

MUMBAI: A day before it reviews interest rates in its monetary policy review, the Reserve Bank Of India (RBI) has kept the market guessing by publishing a sharply lower growth forecast of 6.5% for 2012-13 . At the same time, RBI has said that the near-term outlook on inflation continues to be marked by a number of upside risks, despite the significant slowdown in growth.

Lower growth forecasts typically increase hopes of a rate cut. However, RBI has queered the pitch by stating that persistent inflation limits the space for monetary policy to revive growth.

In its report on macroeconomic and monetary developments , which is published on the eve of the monetary policy, RBI has reported the findings of its poll among professional forecasters on the economy. According to the poll, India's GDP growth rate forecast for 2012-13 has been lowered to 6.5% from the earlier 7.2% on the back of a weak monsoon and high inflation.

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224-yr-old US store shuts shop

WASHINGTON: America's oldest general store, opened one year before George Washington was sworn in as the first president of the US, has shut down after serving the community for 224 years.

Gray's Store in the small village of Adamsville in Rhode Island opened in 1788, selling penny candy, cigars and a small selection of groceries , as well as antiques and collectible knickknacks . Since 1879, the business has been owned by the Waite family.

A large crowd gathered outside the store on Sunday morning to say goodbye to the business on its final day of operation, heraldnews-. com reported. The 21-yearold journalism student Jonah Waite inherited the shop after his father, Grayton Waite died of cancer last month at the age of 59. Jonah is not interested in running the family business and decided to close up shop.

"My dad knew it wasn't something I intended to take over and operate. His intention was to sell it in the next couple of years and fully retire . He didn't have time to do that," heraldnews.com quoted Jonah as saying.

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Syria steps up Aleppo op to flush out rebels

ALEPPO: The Syrian military stepped up its campaign to drive rebel fighters out of Aleppo on Monday, firing artillery and mortars while a fighter jet flew over a district the army said it had retaken the day before. 

However, opposition activists denied government forces had entered the Salaheddine district, which lies in the southwest of the country's biggest city and straddles the most obvious route for Syrian troop reinforcements coming from the south. 

Hospitals and makeshift clinics in rebel-held eastern neighbourhoods were filling up with casualties from a week of fighting in Aleppo, a commercial hub that had previously stayed out of a 16-month-old revolt against President Bashar al-Assad . 

"Some days we get around 30, 40 people, not including the bodies," said a young medic in one clinic. "A few days ago we got 30 injured and maybe 20 corpses, but half of those bodies were ripped to pieces. We can't figure out who they are." 
The opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 40 people, including 30 civilians , were killed in Syria on Monday. Two rebel fighters died in Salaheddine. 

Outgunned rebel fighters, patrolling in flat-bed trucks flying green-white-and-black "independence" flags, said they were holding out in Salaheddine despite a battering by the army's heavy weapons and helicopter gunships. "We always knew the regime's grave would be Aleppo ," said Mohammed, a young fighter, fingering the bullets in his tattered brown ammunition vest. "Damascus is the capital, but here we have a fourth of the country's population and the entire force of its economy. Bashar's forces will be buried here." 

An unidentified Syrian army officer said on state television late on Sunday that troops had pushed "those mercenary gunmen" completely out of Salaheddine, adding: "In a few days safety and security will return to the city of Aleppo." The army's assault on Salaheddine echoed its tactics in Damascus earlier this month when it used its overwhelming firepower to mop up rebel fighters district by district. 

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Denver killer charged with 24 counts of murder

CENTENNIAL (COLORADO): Colorado prosecutors charged James Holmes on Monday with 140 counts of murder or attempted murder, including 12 of first-degree murder for each fatality in the Aurora cinema shooting.Holmes, 24, was also slapped with one count of possession of an explosive device , and one sentence enhancement count.

Twelve people were killed and 58 were wounded after a gunman burst into a sold-out midnight viewing of the latest Batman film, "The Dark Knight Rises" , and began shooting people at random.

Holmes faces one count of first degree murder for each victim in addition to a second charge of "murder by depraved indifference" . He also faces 116 attempted murder charges. Prosecutors have said it will be several weeks before a decision is made on whether or not to seek the death penalty. Only one person has been executed in Colorado since capital punishment was reinstated in 1976.

Holmes gained access to the movie theater via a fire exit shortly after the start of the film on July 20 and threw two canisters of noxious gas into the auditorium, witnesses and police said. After firing into the air with a pump-action shotgun, he allegedly began shooting people with a military-style assault rifle.

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High court helps Muslim girl to live with her Hindu husband

MADURAI: Coming to the aid of a Muslim girl who alleged threats from her family members after she married a Hindu, Madras High Court bench here directed them not to interfere in her life as she was a major.


 Disposing of a petition by 21-year old K Fathima seeking police protection, Justice K Venkataraman said the parents should not interfere and precipitate as the girl was a major. 

The girl, an engineering student in Tirunelveli, was in love with her collegemate S Kannan and both got married at the famous Lord Muruga temple in Palani in Dindigul district on June 29 despite strong opposition from her family. She claimed to have received many threatening phone calls from her relatives and also from a fundamentalist organisation for having married a Hindu youth. 

The judge had summoned the girl, her husband as well as her parents to know the facts. Fathima told the judge she feared that she might become a victim of honour killing and sought protection. When questioned by the Judge, her parents insisted on taking her back with them but budged as the girl was adamant on living with her husband, who filed an affidavit promising to register the marriage. 

The Judge recorded the undertaking as well as the presence of a police official who stood witness to the entire episode and let the girl go with her husband. He also said the police could intervene only if any complaint was lodged by either of the parties making out a cognizable offence and not otherwise.

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JD(U) lauds 27% OBC quota in petrol pumps

NEW DELHI: Janata Dal United president Sharad Yadav, who is also convener of the opposition NDA grouping, has praised oil minister S Jaipal Reddy for implementing a quota system for Other Backward castes (OBC) candidates in allotment of new petrol pump dealerships. 

The ministry on July 20 cleared the proposal to reserve 27% of new petrol pump dealerships for OBC candidates. It also changed the marketing guidelines for state-run fuel retailers to usher in the process to select new dealers through draw of lots. 

"With this drastic change in distribution policy, at least now an OBC candidate can hope to get dealership...," Yadav said in a letter he wrote to Reddy on Thursday. 

The JD(U) president also praised Reddy for showing initiative to bring in changes in the policy. "You brought this significant policy change without any pressure and fanfare," Yadav said in the letter. 

"There had been lot of allegations of discrimination in that (previous) system... This (new) process would be so transparent that there would hardly be any scope of complaint. This is the result of your sincere efforts in helping the downtrodden people of the society..." he said. 

Yadav's letter comes amid a buzz of PM Manmohan Singh planning a Cabinet reshuffle soon. Coming from a seasoned opposition leader, the letter also dispels notions of Reddy's alleged procrastinating nature and projects him as a well-wisher of downtrodden, a factor that can help the minister in politics of his home state, Andhra Pradesh.

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Karnataka MLA held in cash-for-bail scam

HYDERABAD: Anti corruption Buraeu sleuths on Monday arrested Karnataka MLA T H Suresh Babu in the city in connection with cash-for-bail scam. 

On Sunday evening, an ACB team, which has been tracking the movements of Suresh Babu, found that the legislator was in the city to meet an advocate over his anticipatory bail. The team laid a trap near advocate V Surendar Rao's house in Ashok Nagar, where Suresh Babu was supposed to seek advice about the bail. 

"Suresh Babu arrived at the advocate's house around 6pm. After talking to the advocate for 30 minutes, he came out and got into his vehicle. We immediately intercepted the vehicle and took him into custody," an ACB officer said. 

The Kampli MLA is currently being questioned by the ACB sleuths and he would be produced before court on Tuesday. 

The ACB has named eight people as accused in the scam in which suspended CBI judge T Pattabhirama Rao was bribed for granting bail to Gali Janardhan Reddy, prime accused in the Obulapuram Mining Company scam. Apart from Suresh Babu, the accused list in the cash-for-bail scam includes Bellary (Urban) MLA Gali Somasekhar Reddy, suspended CBI judge T Pattabhirama Rao, his son T Ravi Chandra, suspended judges D Prabhakar Rao, K Lakshmi Narasimha Rao, retired judge T V Chalapati Rao, history- sheeter P Yadgiri Rao and advocate Aditya. 

With the arrest of Suresh Babu, the only person yet to be arrested in the case is Bellary (Urban) MLA Gali Somasekhar Reddy. ACB sleuths said he was absconding. A look-out notice has already been issued against the MLA, preventing him from leaving the country. All the other accused are in judicial custody.

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