His first two quarters in office recorded an average approval rating of above 60 per cent. Infact, this is one blemish that Obama would like to do away with at the earliest, considering that this is the largest second-tothird quarter ratings drop in the history of the American presidency.According to Gallup, which carried out thesurvey, the dominant political focus for Obama in the third quarter was the push for healthcare reform,including his nationally televised address to the Congress early September.’Obama hoped that Congress’

How he will survive now is however a million-dollar question.He is among the six arrested in connection with thelargest hedge fund insider-trading ever, which includes twoIndian Americans and a Sri Lanka-born billionaire.

Besides the Tamil-origin Raj Rajaratnam, the two IndianAmericans Rajiv Goel, director, strategic investments at Inteland Anil Kumar, a director at McKinsey were arrested in the$20 million hedge fund insider-trading case.

Jim Walden, Rajaratnam’s attorney, said his client is innocentand will fight against the insider-trading charges.Rajaratnam has been released on a bail of $100 million. Hehas to limit his travel to a 110 mile radius of New York city and has surrendered his passports to the court.

If convicted all of them face imprisonment of up to 20years, according to the indictment, which reads that the defendants”routinely received insideinformation directly or indirectlyfrom insiders and provided it to each other for the purposeof trading based on the information.

Tech Stars of Govt headed by Dr Manmohan Singh

UPA II headed by MMS is having several dark horses, dedicated technocrats providing vital governance inputsto Dr Manmohan Singh government. This is a new strategyadopted by the present government diluting the roleof traditional bureaucratic structure.The men who advise, the man who runs our country are experts and their experience says it all. The government is becomingcomplex and running crucial sectors smoothly requires specialised knowledge. Keeping this in mind Prime MinisterManmohan Singh recently picked software kings NandanNilekani and Sam Pitroda as his advisors. Prime minister has his team of advisors and this specialgroup, constituted on December 29, 2004, is called the
Economic Advisory Council.

“Small companies can yield big fortunes,especially if you run the show,”said the US business magazine onThursday. “One of the self-made memberson our list, billionaire Bharat Desai, is the212th richest American, by Forbes estimates.”

His wealth vehicle: Syntel, the information-technology services provider that Desai founded with wife Neerja Sethi, inTroy, Michigan, in 1980. The company went public in 1997 as the tech boomraged.

It boasts of some stunning underwater photography,the likes of which you may not haveseen before in an Indian film (Peter Zuccharini Pirates of the Caribbean. It has some scintillatingaction sequences (James Bomalick — DieHard 4, Mr and Mrs Smith) both on the groundand underwater, superbly shot.

And the film is a warning to all those womenwho boast of their so-called bikini shots. LaraDutta shows you how to wear the two-piece,and look like a goddess of the sea.

Now that we are done with the pleasantries,here’s what you actually need to know aboutBlue. It sets a new benchmark in squanderingmoney and opportunity.

This film is an example how even with Rs100 crore — the reported budget — worth of eyepoppinggimmicks and stunts, you can makethriller that ends up being hilarious.

For the last ten years, it has become a regular practice for GOPIO to compile annually a list of current issues and then take them up with concerned Governments, such as Government of India as well as organizations such as The United Nations.

Recently, during its 20th Anniversary Celebrations held in August 2009 in New York City, GOPIO compiled a list of such issues and presented them to a forum of participants for discussion and approval in the form of Resolutions (http://www.gopio.net/resolutions/Resolutions.Passed.at.GOPIO%2020th%20091009.doc). The Resolution Committee was headed by Dr. Piyush C. Agrawal, GOPIO’s Regional Vice President for North America.

On September 16, 2009 GOPIO hosted a reception/dinner meeting in New York in honor of Mr. T.K.A. Nair, Principal Secretary of Prime Minister of India. The meeting was chaired by Mr. Ashook Ramsaran Executive Vice President of GOPIO who gave an count of GOPIO’s history and its campaign on various issues of the NRI/PIO community in the past. He then introduced Mr. Prabhu Dayal, Consul General of India in New York who compliments GOPIO’s work for the benefit of the community and India for the last 20 years.

A perfect beginning, you’d think, to be able to launch into her particular brand of affirmative action.

Piramal doesn’t get into comparisons, but points out that she’ll work on two fronts. One, Assocham will keep producing reports on market potential in collaboration with consultants like McKinsey – she insists the reports are top class and says a French firm called her up to collaborate with the Piramal group after an Assocham report talked of the size of the beauty business.

Two, her committee chairwomen will discuss ideas – so the lady in charge of animation, for instance, will talk of how we need to change the curriculum at schools if India is to emerge as a leader in the field.

The R&D committee, which Piramal chairs, she says could throw up new ideas for research – did you know, and I note the numbers down carefully, that when you purify 10,000 litres of water using reverse osmosis, you get just 3,000 litres of pure water?