Best Laptops in Rs 30,000 to Rs 50,000 range in India

TOI: In the present era, there is no escape from the gadgets. It has reached each and every aspect of our life. Laptop is a gadget that a lot of people are always looking to buy or upgrade. There are no dearth of laptops and laptop brands in the market today. Adding to the problem is the price especially for the cost-oriented Indian customers. To ease it out for you, we have listed laptops from brands like Dell,Acer, HP that fall in the price segment of Rs 20,000-Rs 50,000. Lenovo 320S-14IKB: Priced at Rs 43,292 the laptop is powered by seventh generation Intel Core i3 processor and runs Windows 10. The laptop comes with a 14-inch HD (1366x768) display and 4GB DDR4 RAM. It has a hard drive storage capacity of 1TB 7MM 5400RPM.

TOI:IIT-Hyderabad students launch training programme for rural students on JEE

HYDERABAD: IIT-Hyderabad is on a charity mission. In the last two months, the premier technical institute has gone on a community-service spree around its vicinity with the students teaching schoolchildren and prepping them up for IIT-Joint Entrance Examination. While most private schools in Hyderabad conduct specialized IIT coaching from class VI, few government schools are oriented enough to teach children on the national-level competitive exam. Interestingly, IIT-H's local mission began at a time when requests for reservation of seats for local students are flooding the state government offices. According to the student coordinator of the charity mission, three schools in the vicinity, Zilla Parishad High School-ODF, Indrasaran and Cheriyal have been taken up on a trial basis for coaching. The institute is planning to extend its services to other schools in the area. This month, a total of 500 students from about seven schools in the neighbourhood had visited IIT for a coaching class meant to orient them towards higher studies in technological institutes. "We provide coaching to students on every Saturday. It's our contribution to local people for hosting IIT-H," said Aradhya Biswas, an IIT student and coordinator of the National Service Scheme. The NSS wing of the institute runs most of the social service programmes in the state. While a total of 30 students of IIT-H are involved in the coaching exercise, institute head says apart from cloth donation, running workshops in neighbourhood colleges, several social service initiatives are being taken up by the students.

India MPs step up protests at retail reform move

Source:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-15914586
Parliament was adjourned for the day amid renewed uproar from opposition and some ruling coalition MPs, who say the decision will hit local retailers.

Chief ministers of four states - Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal - have opposed the move.

Parliament has barely carried out any work since opening a week ago.
'United' opposition

The Congress-led coalition government says the retail reform move will create tens of millions of jobs.

It will allow for 51% foreign direct ownership (FDI) of multi-brand retail stores, allowing groups like Tesco and Wal-Mart to open stores. Such operators can currently only sell wholesale in India and not directly to customers.

The policy is an executive decision and does not need parliament's approval.
Members of the Confederation of All India Traders protest, 22 Nov The retail move has sparked widespread anger

However, the government has faced serious opposition, including from a key government ally, the Trinamool Congress.

Over the weekend, chief ministers of Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal also protested against the government's move.

The chief minister of Tamil Nadu state, J Jayalalitha, who belongs to the opposition AIADMK, said the government had announced a major policy decision which affected "millions of people outside parliament without even consulting the state governments".

The chief minister of West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee, an ally of the government, said she opposed the move as it would lead to the closure of smaller retail shops.

"If these shops close down, what will the shop owners eat?" she asked.

Sharad Yadav, of the opposition Janata Dal (United) party, has said the entire opposition is united against the move.

"This decision of the government will render [millions] of small businesses and vendors unemployed and destroy the unique village economy of the country," he said.

The policy contains several restrictions, including that the supermarkets are to be located in only 53 Indian cities, with a population of more than one million each.

Media reports suggest that 28 of these cities are ruled by opposition parties.

The other riders include a minimum investment requirement of $100m (£65m) by a chain over five years, and a commitment to purchase 30% of their goods from small and medium-sized firms.

Barely any legislative work has been achieved since parliament began its winter session last Tuesday.

Anger at price rises, the retail reform, moves to split a key state into separate entities and even the banning of a film in Tamil Nadu have made work almost impossible and led to regular adjournments.

An apple a day reduces bowel cancer risk:Times Article

Tucking in an apple with its skin on could help trim the risk of bowel cancer by more than a third, say researchers.
Polish experts from Jagiellonian University in Krakow found that eating two could almost cut down the chances of getting the disease by almost half.

“Neither the consumption of vegetables nor other fruits have shown beneficial effects on the risk of bowel cancer. But a reduced risk of 35 per cent was observed with the consumption of at least one apple a day. With the intake of more than one apple a day, the risk was reduced by about 50 per cent,” the Daily Express quoted the team as saying.

Dr Rachel Thompson, the World Cancer Research Fund, recommended a fibre-packed diet that could help prevent bowel cancer cases.

She said: “Getting more fibre into your diet is not rocket science. It is simply a question of eating more fruits, vegetables and pulses, and choosing the wholegrain option when it comes to things like rice and bread. Any increase in the amount of fibre in your diet can make a difference.”

Dr Alison Ross, senior science information officer at Cancer Research UK, added: “When it comes to reducing the risk of cancer, it’s best to eat a variety of fruits and vegetables rather than relying on any single type.” “We know that bowel cancer is less common among Europeans who eat the most fibre.”

The findings were published in the European Journal of Cancer Prevention .

The Rediff Interview/Ratan Tata, Chairman, Ravi Kant, MD, Tata Motors

Here are the excerpts from Tata Motors [Get Quote] Chairman Ratan Tata and Managing Director Ravi Kant's press conference ahead of the formal launch of the Nano on Monday evening at the Parsi Gymkhana in Mumbai.

The Rs 1 lakh price option will be available for only the first 100,000 cars. Wouldn't that be a disappointment for customers?

Tata: I can only say no car manufacturer would commit a price to any volume. We have. It's neither a gimmick nor an ego trip.

When do you think the Nano will break even?

Tata: All I can say at the moment is that the project is highly profitable. After all, I am not doing it for philanthropy.

Now that you have finally launched, what's next?

Tata: We have no further innovation to speak about at this time. I hope my colleagues will continue to innovate new products when I am no longer there.

You drove the car yourself. Can you share your experience?

Tata: I am usually a very difficult critic. But the driving experience was extremely satisfying. You have to keep the price point in mind to get an objective view.

Are you fully satisfied with the car?

Tata: The drive to stretch the envelope has been extremely satisfying. Today's story started some years ago when I observed families riding on two wheelers, the father driving a scooter, his young kid standing in front of him, his wife sitting behind him holding a baby, and I asked myself whether one could conceive of a safe, affordable, all-weather form of transport for such a family. A vehicle that could be within everybody's reach, built to meet all safety standards, designed to meet or exceed emission norms and low in pollution and high in fuel efficiency. I am happy we are at the threshold of achieving that dream.

How much demand do you think can be fulfilled?

Tata: I agree that the demand is likely to exceed the supply. Launching the car despite production constraints is an interim plan. We didn't want the customer to wait for the car anymore.

Are you planning to build the car in Pune also?

Kant: The car, originally scheduled to roll out just from one plant, is now rolling out from three. We do not want to complicate matters or have too many tasks at our hands and hence we have decided to build the Nano at just Pantnagar (in Uttarakhand) and Sanand (in Gujarat).

Now that the car is launched, what message would you give to Mamata Banerjee?

Tata: I would only like to say Good Afternoon.

What has been the enquiry level so far for the car?

Kant: We have received 30 million hits on our website (the Tata Nano website) so far.

Mr Tata, you had said some market forces which were planning to derail the project. Can you please name them and what is it that you have to say to them. Also, now that the car has been launched, will you look at retirement?

Tata: I will answer both your questions through one answer: I will answer it at the appropriate time. It has been a nightmare getting this product out.

Rediff article on:Slumdog Millionaire: Big money for Indian companies

It's not just about the Oscars, Golden Globe and millions of dollars that Slumdog Millionaire has grossed globally, many Indian companies too are raking in big money from this Hollywood movie.
Fox Star Studio India, the distributor of Slumdog Millionaire in the country, has managed to gross around Rs 40 crore (Rs 400 million) from the markets, surpassing collections of some of the biggest Bollywood hits of last year such as Rock On.
From theatrical collections alone, Slumdog Millionaire and its Hindi version Slumdog Crorepati have managed to get over Rs 30 crore (Rs 300 million). "It's a commercial hit for us, considering that it was not a typical Bollywood film. It has made Rs 30 crore at the box office, two-thirds of which have come from its Hindi avtaar," says Vijay Singh, CEO, Fox Star India.
From the sale of its TV rights (cable and satellite) to Sony Entertainment channel for three years, Fox Star has reportedly made another Rs 5 crore, a huge amount considering that Slumdog has already been watched by a large number of viewers either on DVDs, pirated CDs or in theatres, according to industry sources.

Currently, Fox Star is working on thee-four Bollywood projects and is also in talks with producers for acquisition of script-driven films like Slumdog.
TataSky, the second largest direct-to-home services provider that made available Slumdog Millionaire on a pay-per-view basis, is said to have made over Rs 32 lakhs (Rs 3.2 million) within three days after paying a minimum guarantee fee of Rs 500,000 to Fox. TataSky consumers paid Rs 25 for accessing the movie on the DTH platform.
"We got orders for Slumdog Millionaire from about 1,50,000 TataSky customers. This is by far the best response received for a movie, considering it was available only for 3 days," says a senior TataSky executive.
Industry sources say that even Star Movies, the host broadcasters for the 81st Academy Awards, got high viewership from India even though the live telecast started at 6:30 am on Monday.
Star Network's executive vice-president (sales) Kevin Vaz expects about 40 per cent increase in the advertising revenue from the Oscar coverage compared to the previous years. "Compared with last year, we have registered a 30-40 per cent increase in advertising revenues from the Oscars this year," said Vaz, attributing the increase in the channel revenue to the rave reviews generated by the film in media.

Rediff article on :Tata seeks more land at Pantnagar for Nano

Despite slowdown in auto and other sectors due to the global financial turmoil, Tata Motors [Get Quote] is now seeking more land for expanding its Pantnagar manufacturing facility from where it wants to roll out the first small car, the Nano.

Official sources said that top company officials recently met Uttarakhand Chief Minister BC Khanduri and demanded 35 acres of additional land for expanding the facility. Earlier, the company had sought 55 acres of land at Pantnagar for housing purpose. The government is yet to take a decision in this regard.

The sources said the automobile major is planning to build a railyard at Pantnagar, which would be linked to nearby railway track. The company has also assured the chief minister that it would launch the first Nano from Pantnagar itself. However, no date has been given in this regard. Tata Motors is currently manufacturing Ace truck from Pantnagar.

rediff article on:Wish Our Heroes in Uniform

For 58 hours, as a bunch of determined, and lethally armed, terrorists held Mumbai to ransom, out to destroy everything the city, and India, stands for, our men in uniform have taken them on, bravely and against all odds.

Finally, at considerable cost to themselves, the security forces have brought the grim nightmare to an end.

For this, no words will be enough to pay tribute them. As a stunned nation gropes around for a ray of hope, our heroes in uniform stand tall, assuring us that the nation's, and our own, destiny, is in safe hands.

At this emotional moment, rediff.com pays tribute to our Heroes in Uniform. Come, join us, in celebrating our Real Life Heroes.

Rediff article on:Anand grabs lead in World chess final

Viswanathan Anand [Images] crushed Vladimir Kramnik [Images] with black pieces to score the first victory in the 12-game World Chess Championship final in Bonn on Friday.

Anand, who had played Kramnik in the Slav Exchange in the first game of the 12-game match, found himself in the same opening once again. This time, unlike the first draw, the Russian was outwitted by the Indian in 41 moves.

Kramnik also seemed to be in time trouble as Anand squeezed him. The Indian ace appeared well-prepared and went all out in a very aggressive manner. Kramnik did try to fight back, but Anand was always better-placed, even though in a disguised manner, which later made it clear that his preparation was designed to deceive his opponent.

Defending champion Anand now leads 2-1 in the 12-game match, where the first to reach 6.5 will be declared winner.

Both players will however share equally the prize purse of 1.5 million euros.

In the fourth game on Saturday, Anand will have white pieces.

Kramnik v Anand

World Championship Round 3

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 5. e3 Nbd7 6. Bd3 dxc4 7. Bxc4 b5 8. Bd3 a6 9. e4 c5 10. e5 cxd4 11. Nxb5 axb5 12. exf6 gxf6 13. O-O Qb6 14. Qe2 Bb7 15. Bxb5 Bd6 16. Rd1 Rg8 17. g3 Rg4 18. Bf4 Bxf4 19. Nxd4 h5 20. Nxe6 fxe6 21. Rxd7 Kf8 22. Qd3 Rg7 23. Rxg7 Kxg7 24. gxf4 Rd8 25. Qe2 Kh6 26. Kf1 Rg8 27. a4 Bg2+ 28. Ke1 Bh3 29. Ra3 Rg1+ 30. Kd2 Qd4+ 31. Kc2 Bg4 32. f3 Bf5+ 33. Bd3 Bh3 34. a5 Rg2 35. a6 Rxe2+ 36. Bxe2 Bf5+ 37. Kb3 Qe3+ 38. Ka2 Qxe2 39. a7 Qc4+ 40. Ka1 Qf1+ 41. Ka2 Bb1+ 0-1 (Black -- Anand wins).

Reddif article on:The Indian behind Intel's super chip

When Intel launched its first six-core x86 microprocessor - a high-end processor to crunch huge amount of data - designed and developed by its Indian team, there was relief at its India office. This made-in-India project, code-named Dunnington, was launched after another much-touted India-specific project - Whitefield - was aborted mid-way by Intel in 2005, citing 'business reasons'. Praveen Vishakantaiah, a Bangalore-boy and the first one from Bangalore to head Intel India's operations led this project from the front. Prior to this, he was the director of Intel's Digital Enterprise Group and has been part of the microprocessor design team.He has rich experience in the development of Pentium II, Pentium III and Pentium IV microprocessors at Intel.

Buying a Flat/Site/House in bangalore

Buying a property that to in Bangalore consists of many measures.First of all look for whether its apporved by BDA(Bangalore Development Authority),BBMP(Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagar Palika) or BMP.Also look for the water line ,cever line and other concerned connections to that area.All people first look for the locality and then the convenience as per their office,market area,bus stand,Hopcom market etc etc.Now a days we will get daily items in any food Bazar.On my friends blog I got a nice information for the people who is willing to buy a flat/House/site in Bangalore.Have a look at this.

Even though this post is specific to Bangalore, the general principles should apply everywhere. I have not included everything related to buying an apartment here like location, security etc. Just those things which are not so obvious to new house-hunters.

Size: Do not buy a smaller unit thinking that you can always buy a bigger one later. Banish the thought forever. If you can’t afford a bigger house now, you won’t be able to do so after 5 years either. Property rates are doubling every two years whereas the salary is not. And once you get settled in a house, it is almost impossible to shift.
Looking ahead 10 years, you’d have kids who would need a room of their own. Your parents might come to stay with you. You might acquire a ton of household stuff which you’d have to put somewhere. So buy the biggest house you can afford. Look for one with atleast 3 bedrooms with a total area of about 2000 sqft. It might pinch a little now but will sure come in handy later.

Built-up area: The area of the apartment quoted by the builder is called super built-up area. This is the area for which you are paying the money. This super built-up area includes the area reserved for corridors, playgrounds, gardens and lift etc. The area in which you actually get to live in is called built-up area which is typically 80% of super built-up area. So if you are buying a 2000 sqft apartment, you get only 1600 sqft out of that. Some builders claim to give 85% but that is the limit.

Loan: This is the one thing that causes most anxiety to new homebuyers. There are many things to be taken care of while taking a loan.

Pre-EMI: In a typical payment schedule, the bank releases a part of loan, say 10%, at each stage of construction. By the time you take possession, the bank would have paid the entire loan amount to the builder. If the construction takes 18 months, you have to pay the interest for 18 months on the money the bank has released. As and when the bank releases money, the amount on which you have to pay interest goes up. This interest amount is called Pre-EMI.
The alternative to Pre-EMI is to ask the bank to release the full loan to the builder in the beginning itself. Then you can start paying full EMIs to the bank instead of paying Pre-EMIs. Even though paying full EMIs sounds bad when you can get away with paying much less Pre-EMIs, it is actually better and will save you as much as 5 lakhs!
When you pay full money to the builder up-front, you get a discount of 4-5%. This works out to be 1.5-2 lakhs, depending upon the cost of the apartment.
The Pre-EMIs that you pay do not count towards your loan. I.e. they do not bring your loan down. You are just paying a convenience fee to the bank. Most people go for this option ’cause they can’t pay full EMI and the rent at the same time.
Interest rate: You can go for either fixed or floating rate of interest. Floating rates generally change every quarter but it is up to the bank. Fixed rates are of two types - fixed for a term and fixed for full tenure. The fixed term is typically 3 years after which there is a revision to the rate, depending on the market condition at that time. There are very few banks which offer fixed rate for full tenure. ICICI is one such bank. Some banks like Kotak offer loan with interest rate linked to the Fixed Deposit rate.
You can change your loan from fixed to floating rate later and vice-versa but banks typically charge 0.5% of outstanding principle amount for this. There is one hidden cost though here. Your interest and principle components for EMI would be calculated again and you might end up paying more.
As of Feb 2006, the floating rate is 7.75%, three year fixed is 8.25%, and fixed for full tenure is 8.75%.
Pre-closure: Most loans last for about 6-7 years even though they were originally taken for 15-20 years. If you get some extra money and want to close off your loan, banks typically charge you 2% of the remaining loan amount. Some banks do not allow you to do this at all. In ICICI, you don’t have to pay any penalty for this if you leave 12 EMIs.
Also check if you can pay more than your EMI once in a while. Banks typically allow you to make excess payments once in a quarter or once in 6 months.
Insurance: Banks typically fund up to 85% of the apartment cost. Some banks fund up to 90% if you take loan insurance but 90% is the upper limit. The loan insurance premium is typically 8-10k per year. It covers things like disability, unemployment, death, or loss of property due to fire and theft etc. Unlike life insurance, you won’t get anything back at the end of coverage term. You might be better off taking simple life insurance if you are not concerned about job security etc.
Tax exemption: You get tax benefits on pre-EMI and EMI only in the year in which you are taking possession. See more details here.
Loan disbursement: All the builders have home loan tie-ups with various banks and they also have loan agents who deal with those particular banks. After your loan has been sanctioned, it takes a lot of co-ordination between the builder and the bank to disburse the money. All this becomes much easier if you take the loan through these builder appointed agents.
Cost: Like there is an ex-showroom price for cars, apartments have an ex-builder price (I just made up that term). A typical price of, say, 2000/- per sqft quoted by the builder does not include charges for Water supply, Electricity, Car parking, Service tax, VAT, Registration, and legal expenses etc. You won’t get any wardrobes or kitchen shelves either. Add 30% of the base cost for these things (total cost now = 2600/-). The builder should be able to tell you exactly how much would these things cost. Your loan eligibility is calculated on the sum total of all the above costs.

Premiums: Some builders, or rather all of them, ask for a premium for corner units or upper floors. In other cities, lower level floors cost more than the higher ones but in Bangalore it’s the other way around. This premium rate is typically 20/- to 50/- per sqft per floor. There is no problem in paying it except that it is not shown in any of the documents. Your house would still be registered at a rate of 2000/- only. See if your builder can waive it off or reduce it; most do.

Amenities: All the apartment complexes are advertised to have a club house, swimming pool, gym, garden, and playground etc. It would be a shame to call that pit a swimming pool but the point here is that you are made to pay for these things. If you are going to buy a house in one of these projects, there is nothing you can do to avoid paying for them. But what you can do is to buy a house in a much smaller apartment complex. These complexes typically have only 12-20 units and don’t have any of the above “luxuries”. You can see these kind of complexes everywhere in residential areas like Koramangala. The prices are about same as big complexes but then you get to live in the city and in a much better locality.

Salespeople: Do NOT trust the marketing executives who take you to the site and give you a tour. They would promise anything just to sell you the damn apartment. Always call up the customer care department and verify it with them. Better still, go to their office and have a look at the papers yourself.

When to buy: This one is simple. Buy it as soon as possible. Buy it now. Don’t worry about leaving Bangalore and going back to your hometown. you can always sell it later. And at a profit too. The best time to buy an apartment is during the pre-launch offer. These offers run for about 2 months and the rates are up to 200/- per sqft lower. As soon as the builder gets the plans approved from the govt authorities (and the project is officially launched), the rates shoot up (and keep on shooting up). The number of units on offer during pre-launch is very less though.
Another thing to note is that builders do not release (put up for sale) all the units once they launch the project. They keep some units for selling them later at a higher price.

Links:

BDA Sites - A highly useful and relevant discussion group on MSN. Do not trust everything you read there though.
Official website of BDA
Official website of BMRDA