The study has identified 20 top Indian cities, which though accounting for only 10% of the country’s population, generate as much as 60% of its surplus income and 31% of its disposable income.

The authors have classified these 20 large cities, which accounted for nearly $100-billion of consumption expenditure in 2007-08, in three groups comprising; Megacities (8), Boomtowns (7), and Niche Cities (5).

The eight Megacities that apart from large population also have large consumer markets are: Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Pune.

The seven Boomtowns that have big population and high expenditure per household are: Surat, Kanpur, Jaipur, Lucknow, Nagpur, Bhopal and Coimbatore.

The five Niche cities that are relatively smaller in population but have above national-average household spend are: Faridabad, Amritsar, Ludhiana, Chandigarh and Jalandhar.

The experience of the past year has apparently made it clear that there is an inherent need to understand cities as complete entities. The real estate dynamics within a city are determined by the socio-economic and infrastructure development of the city.

Tendulkar smashed 200 not out off 147 balls to help India post 401-3.South Africa were bowled out for 248 with AB de Villiers hitting a defiant 114 not out in the day-night match at the Captain Roop Singh Stadium.

Tendulkar struck 25 fours and three sixes on a ground with short boundaries in a spectacular innings that combined power, timing and enthusiasm with stunning strokeplay.

“The way Sachin batted, the way he continued until the 50th over it was superb. Even when he was tired and he couldn’t play big shots, he used the pace of the bowler quite nicely,” India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni told the prize-giving ceremony.

The 36-year-old batsman reached 200 with a single off Charl Langeveldt in the final over. The capacity crowd erupted in joy as Tendulkar looked skyward, kissed the crest of his helmet and raised his bat.

India lost opener Virender Sehwag for nine to left-arm seamer Wayne Parnell but Tendulkar, who extended his record number of one-day centuries to 46, proceeded to put on 194 for the second wicket with Dinesh Karthik (79).

Tendulkar reached his 100 with a single and moved to 150 with a four off Parnell. He was in complete control of the attack after hitting a century in each of the two tests against South Africa in the drawn test series earlier this month.

“It was a fantastic innings from Tendulkar, he took advantage of the conditions, he’s a world-class bat and heproved it  again today,” South Africa’s stand-in captain Jacques Kallis said. Tendulkar holds the record for mostruns in tests (13,447) and ODIs (17,598) and most centuries in tests (47) and ODIs.

Five Technology Areas

Five technology areas will be maturing in many ways by 2025 that will increase their impacts unlike ever before. 1. Biotechnology. We will see significant advances in a wide range of areas from biomanufacturing and information processing to robotics and cognitive enhancement. The body will become its own laboratory, as we will harness the ability to generate medicines and necessary chemicals within our bodies. Possible obstacles to advances include the difficulty of obtaining funding for truly innovative work, and the regulatory environment. Future developments will also include the building of complex systems and the addition of biological parts to engineering and electronic devices. Biotechnologies such as algae, programmed cells, bio-catalytic systems, and enzymes will play a role in alternative fuels, and the manipulation of viruses and bacteria could pose a potential threat.

2. Cyber-based technology. The growth of low-cost, ubiquitous computing may shift the balance between the haves and have-nots, and will also empower developing countries, as we are already seeing with initiatives such as the “One Laptop per Child” program. As computers spread, communication will become extremely cheap and wireless networking will become ubiquitous. Computer capabilities have already escaped the confines of desktops, laptops, and servers. In parts of the developing world where computers are currently scarce, programming mobile phones is increasing, skipping generations of traditional wired and computing infrastructure. Across the globe, hundreds of computers chatting with themselves in a single automobile and with satellites for GPS is common today and will create more cyber noise in the future.

Greece remains the main subject of discussion for EU finance ministers currently meeting in Brussels. The EU appears to have slept through the Greek use of accounting tricks to hide their deficits and is presently engaged in a good deal of collective self-recrimination for not paying closer attention to the true state of Greece’s dismal public finances much earlier. As a result, the EU is to send teams of experts from the European commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund to police the Greek austerity programme and rule whether the package will achieve its aims. The meeting in Brussels was dominated by working out how the unprecedented policing regime would work.

Greek Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou said his task was like changing “the course of the Titanic.”

SWAPS DISCLOSURE

Brussels based European Union regulators have ordered Greece to disclose details of complex derivative currency swaps after an inquiry by the Greek Finance Ministry uncovered a series of agreements with banks that may have been used to conceal mounting debts. The swaps were employed to defer interest payments by several years, according to a February report commissioned by the Finance Ministry in Athens that is being examined by lawmakers. “While swaps should be strictly limited to those that lead to a permanent reduction in interest spending, some of these agreements have been made to move interest from the present year to the future, with longterm damage to the Greek state,” according to the Greek Finance Ministry report.

Genesis of Swaps Requirement Greece’s burgeoning budget deficit caused it to fail the criteria for joining the single European currency in 1999. Member nations had to reduce deficits to less than 3% of GDP and trim national debt to less than 60% of GDP to join. As a result, it joined the euro in 2001. How did it manage to do that?

Next phase of life was very interesting and fulfilling. Dr RK got a teaching post in Terna Medical College and was appointed at the youngest consultant at Mahatama Gandhi Medical College.

He started private practice in New Bombay. At that time in one of the lectures he was attending, he met a leading refractive surgeon from the United States. Talking to him he realized that how far advanced US was in that field.

There was no such opportunity in India at that time. So he embarked on a mission to win a fellowship or advanced training in the United States. For this he had to write and pass a series of exams called USMLE. On overcoming that hurdle he was accepted into the University of Cincinnati for a Corneal and Refractive surgery fellowship.

The next 16 months he was able to interact with imbibe skills from corneal specialists. Dr RK learnt Radial keratototomy, laser vision correction and advanced cataract surgery with Phakoemulsification.

Dr RK proudly narrates his achievements in US, he said – “ I have been fortunate that my surgical skills and hard work has been recognized on many levels. The readers of Los Angeles Daily news voted me the best LASIK surgeon. The patients’ have  written numerous heartfelt notes of gratitude. I have had the honor ofoperating on physician colleagues, my staff and family members and celebrities. I have been bestowed the Congressional Medal of Honor. Today I am the Team ophthalmologist for the US men’s and women’s Water polo team. Numerous articles have been written about me in the press. I have been interviewed on radio and television.”

Background to Education in England

There are some 17, 064 Primary Schools, 3,225 Secondary Schools, 1,058 Special Schools, 2356 Independent Schools and 133 Academies. In total there are around 24, 737 schools of all types in England. Of these, faith schools represent 6,384 Primary Schools and 589 Secondary schools.

Breaking this down further there are 4,716 that are Church of England, 2,108 Roman Catholic, 37 Jewish, seven Muslim, two Sikh, one Greek Orthodox and one Seventh Day Adventist. No Hindu schools.

It was the Labour Party when elected in 1997 that brought in the law which for the first time allowed people of other faiths to also aspire to have their own faith schools. Until then all state faith schools were Christian or Jewish.

The Road to Krishna

The brain child is that of the IFoundation, an organisation set up to establish sustainable projects that further the advancement of Vedic culture and philosophy. In pursuit of their aims, the foundation contributed around £2 million so that if accepted by the Governments’ education department, they could then harness a subsidy of more than £10 million to help build the school. It has also secured the support of its faith partner, ISKCON (UK) which will underpin the Vedic and Hindu values of the school.

This prestigious award is being presented for his outstanding services, achievements and contributions in IT Industry globally and keeping the Flag of India high. He is the first NRI from South Africa to be awarded this prestigious award.

Dr Pradhan was honored with this award on the eve of Republic Day, 25th of January 2010, at a glittering function in the presence of dignitaries from all over the world at Hotel Lalit, New Delhi.

Dr Pradhan has distinguished himself as an Entrepreneur, a Management Consultant, an Innovator and a world class Indian Professional.

Keeping in view his contributions in ICT Industry, teaching and research for more than 19 years, he was appointed as advisor to many African Government and Companies.

Research accomplishments of Dr Pradhan include Green IT, Micro Generation and commercial projects running on Off Grid Power. In his career of 19 years in more than 50 countries, he has been involved with and headed some of the biggest IT projects.

Dr. Pradhan designed the Timetunnel Green View and Timetunnel Unified Banking Engine. Both these solutions have near zero carbon foot print, operate on Off Grid Power and are based on FOSS Architecture. The TUBE can empower millions of people with affordable world class banking.

Gauteng Treasury hired him to develop a model that entails 15 provincial departments compiling their annual budgets on the web, online at real time. The project was the first of its kind in South African public sector. He led the project team from conceptualization, virtualization and development. With his high-level expertise, the project was adopted by the province at large and enabled on-line compilation, in time, less administrative processes, less costs. Recently he was heading the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa – PRASA SAP project.