Bhadrachalam temple set to have dress code:Telangana

HYDERABAD: Jeans, t-shirts, shorts and skirts are out. In what would be the first temple in Telangana to implement a dress code, pilgrims visiting the Sree Seetha Ramachandra Swamy temple in Bhadrachalam from June 1 will be required to wear traditional dresses.

In neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) imposes a dress code for pilgrims visiting the temples in Tirumala and Tirupati, especially at the Sri Venkateswara Swamy temple at Tirumala.

Men have been advised to wear a dhoti or a lungi and a 'Kanduva' over their shoulders and covering their torso. The other option for men is to wear a plain white pyjama with a 'lalchi' or a kurta on top. Women can wear a saree or salwar kameez.

"We have decided to ask people to not wear tight clothes like jeans, t-shirts, shorts and skirts when they visit the temple," executive officer of the Sree Seetha Ramachandra Swamy Vari Devasthanam K Prabhakar Srinivas told TOI.

He also said, "The idea is to preserve the traditional atmosphere of a Hindu temple and convey a message that traditional values matter, especially when visiting religious sites."

Those not adhering to the dress code will not be permitted to enter the 'Antaralayam', the sanctum sanctorum area or attend events such as Nitya Kalyanam and special pujas. With regard to children, those under the age of 10 can wear regular clothes that are "modern in fashion but no tight pants or shirts or jeans will be allowed. Other youngsters can wear traditional dresses," it was informed. "When we conduct a puja or celebrate a festival at home, we wear traditional dresses. All we are asking for now is that pilgrims follow a similar norm while visiting the temple," Srinivas said.

Normally, the Rama temple at Bhadrachalam in Khammam district receives about 5,000 pilgrims a day.

Ramachandra Guha resigns as BCCI administrator

Historian Ramachandra Guha, appointed by the Supreme Court as one of the four administrators of BCCI, on Thursday informed the court that he had resigned from the post due to personal reasons.

A vacation bench of Justices M Shantanagoudar and Deepak Gupta was informed by Guha's counsel that he had tendered his resignation on May 28 to Vinod Rai, Chairman of the Committee of Administrators of the Board of Control for Cricket in India.

The court said a special bench was seized of the matter and the petition should therefore be filed in the registry.

Advocate Rakesh Sinha, who mentioned the matter before the bench, said he had filed the petition to inform the court about Guha's decision to resign as the main matter would be coming up for hearing in July.

The apex court had on January 30 appointed a four-member committee of administrators headed by former Comptroller and Auditor General Vinod Rai to run the affairs of BCCI and implement court-approved recommendations of the Justice R M Lodha panel on reforms in the cash-rich cricket body.

Vikram Limaye, Managing Director of Infrastructure Development Finance Company (IDFC), and former Indian women cricket captain Diana Edulji were the other administrators appointed by the Supreme Court.

Infosys employee found dead at Mahindra World City campus

CHENNAI: The naked body of a 30-year-old Infosys employee was found near the rest room in the office at Mahindra World City on the outskirts of Chennai on Tuesday night sent shock waves among the other employees.

The deceased has been identified as Ilayaraja, a native of Villupuram. Preliminary investigations reveal that the man resided at Tindivanam and had gone to office on Monday after which he did not return home. 

His wife filed a complaint with the police on Tuesday and later in the evening his body was recovered from near the rest room. The staff who spotted the body alerted the police who recovered the body and sent it to the government hospital for autopsy. 

Police suspect it to be a case of murder, but are waiting for the autopsy reports to confirm. 

A case has been registered and further investigations are on. 

Another Telugu legend passed away-Dasari Narayana Rao

Dasari Narayana Rao was a premier and prolific writer-director-actor in Telugu movies but he was in reasonable demand in the Hindi film industry too, especially in the early 1980s.

Seventy-year-old Rao, who passed away in Hyderabad on Tuesday, delivered at least two box-office winners: Swarg Narak (1978), a

feelgood family drama, and Jyoti Bane Jwala (1980), a hard-edged revenge yarn.

Rao — who was a Congress MP from Andhra Pradesh and served as the Union minister of state for coal between 2004-2006 and in his second term from 2006-2008 — had a gift for telling stories on celluloid in a compelling manner, irrespective of the genre. Most of his Hindi films were either social dramas or action flicks. But one of his most talked-about movies, Aaj Ka MLA Ram Avtar, was a political comedy starring Rajesh Khanna. Khanna played a barber who becomes a proxy chief minister and then uses his guile to pay back the crafty politicos in their own coin. The film was appreciated by critics, especially Khanna's performance, but failed to impress the box-office. Rao's choice of Khanna in the off-beat role was typical of the director.

Rao also had an ear for catchy music. Swarg Narak, for which he also wrote the story and screenplay, typified this. Composer Rajesh Roshan provided the film's score and two songs - 'Nahi nahi koi tumsa hasin' and 'Leena o leena'-- rode the radio countdown chart. Later music director duo Laxmikant-Pyarelal became regulars in his films and reeled out a bunch of popular tracks. Jyoti Bane Jwala had 'Dil dhadak raha hai', a rare Bollywood number where Mohd Rafi, Kishore and Lata come together. Even flops like Pyaasa Sawan had the soothing, semi-classical track, 'Megha re megha re', 'mat pardes jaa re' and Haisiyat, another box-office dud, had the playful 'Daftar ko der ho gayi'.

Interestingly, Rao's Jyoti Bane Jwala was locked in a race with Prakash Mehra's Jwalamukhi to be released first. Both films, it was said, had the same story. Rao, who had a knack for finishing films in a jiffy without compromising on quality, won with ease. Jyoti Bane Jwala, starring the director's favourite Jeetendra, became one of the biggest hits of the year. Jwalamukhi flopped.

In the year 1984, Rao had a staggering 10 releases, including five in Hindi: Asha Jyoti, Aaj Ka MLA Ram Avtar, Yaadgar, Haisiyat and Zakhmi Sher. However, most of these films couldn't woo the cash counters. In 1985, he also made a film with Rajinikanth, Wafadar. That flopped as well. Thereafter, he largely stayed away from Hindi films barring exceptions such as Santan (1993).

GST(Goods and Service Tax) in india

By Now we might have familiar with the word GST by looking at news channels and News papers spreading these days.

below are the details about GST bill in india.

Goods and Services Tax (GST) is an upcoming system of taxation in India which will merge many individually applied taxes into a single tax. It was introduced as The Constitution (One Hundred and First Amendment) Act 2016, following the passage of Constitution 101stAmendment Bill. The GST is governed by GST Council and its Chairman is Union Finance Minister of India - Arun Jaitley.

GST is a comprehensive indirect tax on manufacture, sale and consumption of goods and services throughout India to replace taxes levied by the central and state governments.

This method allows GST-registered businesses to claim tax credit to the value of GST they paid on purchase of goods or services as part of their normal commercial activity. Administrative responsibility would generally rest with a single authority to levy tax on goods and services. Exports would be considered as zero-rated supply and imports would be levied the same taxes as domestic goods and services adhering to the destination principle in addition to the Customs Duty which will not be subsumed in the GST.

How GST Works in India

GST is the integrated indirect tax which is levied on the Supply of Goods and Services. There will be dual GST with the Center and State simultaneously levying it on the common tax base. The CGST and SGST will be charged on intra-state supplies whereas IGST will be charged on inter-state supplies. The small business having turnover up to Rs. 20 Lakhs are exempted from GST under. All the other taxpayer having the turnover of more than Rs. 20 Lakhs (Rs 10 Lakhs in northeast States) are required to register and pay GST. The Commerce and finance graduates can become GST Return Preparer (GST Practitioner) to file return on behalf of taxpayers.

Effects of GST

The tax rate under GST may be nominal or zero rated for the time it charged. It has been proposed to insulate the revenues of the States from the impact of GST, with the expectation that in due course, GST will be levied on petroleum and petroleum products. The central government has assured states of compensation for any revenue losses incurred by them from the date of introduction of GST for a period of five years.

GST on Exports

Under the GST Law, export of goods or services are treated as Zero rated supplies, therefore, GST will not be charged on the export of goods or services. The credit on inputs used for making export supplies will be available to the exporter. The exporters have two options either to export goods under Bond and claim refund of input credit or to export goods under rebate claim and claim the refund of output tax.

The following taxes will be bound together by the GST:

• Central Excise Duty
• Service Tax
• Countervailing Duty
• Special Countervailing Duty
• Value Added Tax (VAT)
• Central Sales Tax (CST)
• Octroi
• Entertainment Tax
• Entry Tax
• Purchase Tax
• Luxury Tax
• Advertisement taxes
• Taxes applicable on lotteries

India uses more groundwater than other countries like US and China

HIGHLIGHTS of the article.

• ·         Agricultural production over the years has mostly been fuelled by heavy use of groundwater
• ·         If the current trends continue, by 2030 nearly 60% of Indian aquifers will be in a critical condition.
• ·         Some 25% of the agricultural production will be at risk

 Right on the edge of the Ganga basin that spans 11 Indian states lies Naujhil block, a few kilometres west of the Yamuna in UP's Mathura district. You would think this is a blessed location with plentiful water all round. With its 17 tributaries, including the Yamuna, Ganga's catchment area has about 525 billion cubic metres (bcm) of surface water and about 171 bcm of groundwater.

On average, it receives a million cubic metres of rainfall on every square kilometre. But Naujhil block is a declared "dark zone", that is, its groundwater extraction far exceeds the recharging rate and use of electricity for pumping water is not permitted. Because of heavy withdrawal, the groundwater is very saline now.

Subhash Nauwar, a farmer from Managarhi village in the area, says, "About 35-40 years ago, there was no problem. This is the khadar (floodplain) of the Yamuna and its water would recharge the groundwater sources. But people wanted more crops, so a bund was built to prevent flooding. Now there is no water." It's bizarre. Most residents of Managarhi use bottled water for drinking and cooking, as if they were living in a desert and not in one of the world's most water-rich plains. This water scarcity is spreading across India, smothering idyllic villages and high-rise city habitats in equal measure. No Indian city supplies 24x7 drinkable water to all of its residents.

In many cities, including Bengaluru and Chennai, water scarcity has reached crisis levels and in pampered Delhi, every summer brings intense water scarcity for the disadvantaged sections.

Meanwhile, in rural India, zooming agricultural production over the years has mostly been fuelled by heavy use of groundwater because not enough investment was made for using surface and rainwater through canals and reservoirs. Now, take a look at India's water equation: after accounting for losses due to evaporation and unusable water like brackish water or swamp water, the total usable water available in the country is 1,123 bcm, while the total water consumption in 2006 was 829 bcm, projected to rise to 1,093 bcm by 2020. So, in just a few years, India will reach its limit of water consumption because water supply cannot be increased. It is a definite, finite resource.

Increase in population has, of course, contributed to the situation reaching these dire straits, but a closer look will reveal gross mismanagement and neglect by governments, coupled with an unbridled destruction of resources as if there is no tomorrow. Take rainwater for instance.

Increase in population has, of course, contributed to the situation reaching these dire straits, but a closer look will reveal gross mismanagement and neglect by governments, coupled with an unbridled destruction of resources as if there is no tomorrow. Take rainwater for instance.

This would ease some of the pressure off groundwater usage that has pushed 29% of the country's blocks into the "over-exploited" category, that is, where groundwater withdrawal is more than the possible recharge. This indiscriminate withdrawal, as in Naujhil, has led India to showing an annual groundwater usage that is more than the combined usage by the US and China. Studies by Nasa using satellite imagery show that the Indus basin, which includes the high food producing states of Punjab and Haryana, is one of the most stressed aquifers in the world.

If the current trends continue, by 2030 nearly 60% of Indian aquifers will be in a critical condition. This means that some 25% of the agricultural production will be at risk — a devastating scenario. India's cities are teetering on the brink of an unimaginable water crisis because of unplanned growth and low priority to provision of safe drinking water. Loss due to leaks in the supply systems and wasteful consumption practices pose a serious and untackled problem. Cities also symbolise the injustice of water distribution with well-heeled localities getting as much as 6-8 times more water than the poorer localities. Here, too, rainwater harvesting can play an important role in supplementing municipal supplies and taking the load off precious groundwater resources. Take the example of Delhi. It receives a mindboggling 690 billion litres of rainfall every year. Harvesting even 25% of this would yield 172 billion litres. With an average demand of about 5 billion litres per day, this could just be suffi cient to tide over a hot, waterless summer month. A mix of traditional and modern technologies needs to be urgently put in place to tackle India's impending water crisis, argues Hegde. This includes watershed development programmes, increasing the effi ciency of irrigation by replacing the prevalent fl ood irrigation with drip or sprinkler systems and creation of desalination plants to convert seawater into drinkable sweet water.

We hope this will inspire others to replicate these models

Trump proposes to convert US grant to Pakistan into loan

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump has proposed in his annual budget to the Congress to convert US grant to Pakistan for purchase of military hardware into a loan, the White House said.

However, the Trump administration has left it for the State Department to take a final call on the proposal.

Unlike many parliamentary democracies like India and the UK, wherein the finance

minister personally delivers speech on the floor of the parliament, in the US the White House sends hard copies of the President's budget proposals.

The maiden annual budget of the Trump administration would be submitted to the US Congress later today.

Responding to questions, Mick Mulvaney, Director of the Office of Management of Budget in the White House said the Trump administration has proposed to convert its Foreign Military Funding (FMF) programme to many countries, including Pakistan, from aid to financial loan.

"The Foreign Military Funding or FMF for Pakistan may be provided in the form of a loan," said Mulvaney.

"This is one of the options that the administration had explored in its internal deliberations, but the request itself does not make that determination," the White House later clarified, indicating that it might revert back to the original financial grant to Pakistan to sell military hardware if need be.

Whether the funding is provided through grants, or as a subsidy for a guaranteed loan, is an option the State Department can exercise to ensure our foreign assistance best supports US' national interests, the White House added.

The move is seen as part of the Trump administration's efforts to cut foreign aid budgets to help pay for increased US military spending.

However, for countries like Israel and Egypt, its military aid would continue to be in the form of grant, Mulvaney said.

The details of the FMF to Pakistan and other countries are expected to be released by the State Department later.

"We do maintain aid to Pakistan in the budget. I don't believe it's at the same levels as previous," he said in response to a question.

"We do change a couple of the foreign military programmes from direct grants to loans. Our argument was instead of giving somebody USD 100 million, we can give them a smaller number worth of loan guarantees and they can actually buy more stuff. We did not change it for Israel. We did not change it for Egypt," he said.

Impact of viral marketing on social media

In recent years, social media is playing a vital role on social networking and content sharing,As companies begin to realize the value of the Internet as a primary component of their communications platform, they are beginning to use viral marketing like social media as an alternative marketing practices that are more cost-effective and more efficient at actively engaging with consumers, than traditional advertising ways.

Many companies have made use of viral advertising in recent years. The effective use of viral marketing practices can be especially advantageous for smaller to medium sized companies, which will reduce the lack of resources that are necessary for employing traditional forms of advertising

Viral marketing is defined as a communication and distribution concept that relies on customers to advertise products via electronic mail to other potential customers in their social media.

Viral marketing is an effective way to reach millions of audience, without geographic boundary concerns. Viral marketing refers to marketing techniques that utilizes existing communication networks like Facebook, twitter and YouTube to increase brand awareness for making product sales.

Viral marketing will promote the product by video clips, flash games, images and even text messages   

  

Below are the methods of Viral Marketing.

àinternet search engines and blogs.

àTarget Marketing webservices.

àSocial Media Interconnectivity.

àTelevision and Radio.

àYoutube, Facebook and Twitter.

àText messages.

à Email notifications  

The best way for Viral Marketing is Facebook Marketing.

Facebook offers many ways to get the word out and bring the people in. Here ‘s how to get started

FaceBoook Marketing:

·         Facebook Groups are oldest and simplest way to form a community on Facebook. By creating a group, you create a place for customers, partners and friends to discuss about your brand.

·         Facebook pages, facebook messages and facebook share items or messages are also best way of viral marketing.

A successful viral marketing campaign usually contains a few characteristics. One of the most important of these characteristics is that it allows consumers to effortlessly transfer the message to others. A social media post is extremely easy to share and takes a quick second out of consumers’ busy lives.

In sum, we believe that viral advertising is a cost-effective way to reach a large-scale audience. Therefore, product awareness can be attained across a large number of people. Most of the major advertisers have a social marketing department, so we believe that it represents another avenue for growth, as well as a means of diversification. We think that viral advertising is here to stay and that companies must realize both the positive and negative implications of this market approach.   

Mumbai won by 1 run; Pune vs Mumbai - T20

Mumbai Indians were crowned the Indian Premier League (IPL) champions for the third time after Mitchell Johnson delivered a three-wicket final over to help secure their thrilling one-run victory over Rising Pune Supergiant in the final on Sunday.

Chasing 130 to win, Pune looked primed for their maiden IPL title with skipper Steve Smith leading the charge and the team needing 11 runs off the final over with seven wickets in hand.

Australia's former Ashes hero Johnson dismissed Manoj Tiwary and Smith off successive deliveries while Dan Christian ran himself out in the final ball of the over which yielded nine runs.

Smith topscored for his side with 51 off 50 balls while Ajinkya Rahane made 44 upfront but Pune never got the late assault despite having wickets in hand and finished 128-6.

Johnson claimed 3-26 while his pace colleagues Jasprit Bumrah (2-26) and Lasith Malinga, who went wicketless but conceded only 21 runs in his four overs, were equally impressive in defending a modest total.

Mumbai went into the match having lost their previous three matches, including Tuesday's qualifier, against Pune this season and the 129-8 they managed on Sunday looked far from an intimidating score.

Mumbai skipper Rohit Sharma opted to bat but they looked in trouble after Jaydev Unadkat (2-19) dismissed both the openers cheaply to deny them a strong start.

Mumbai crawled to 56-3 at the halfway stage of their innings when Adam Zampa struck twice in the same over to wreck their hopes of a big total.

The Australian leg-spinner dismissed Rohit with the first delivery of his over with Shardul Thakur taking a well-judged catch near the rope and the spinner's sixth sent back Kieron Pollard.

Mumbai were reeling at 79-7 but Krunal Pandya topscored for them with a belligerent 47 before falling to the final delivery of the innings.

"It was a great game of cricket and I hope the crowd enjoyed it," Rohit said.

"To defend such a modest total, the first thing you need is self-belief and I told the boys we can do it. It was a great effort by the team, hats off to them."

Electricity from Rs 500 notes--A teenager from Odisha devised a technology to generate electricity from the old Rs 500 note.

With the country reeling from a cash crisis post-demonetization, a 17-year-old science student from Odisha's Nuapada district has devised a technique to generate electricity from scrapped Rs 500 notes. His innovation has now grabbed national attention, with the PMO directing the state science and technology department to submit a report regarding the project.

Lachman Dundi, a student of Khariar College, said he could produce up to five volts from a single Rs 500 note. "I used the silicon coating on the note to create energy. I tore up the note so that the coating is visible, which I exposed to direct sunlight. The silicon plate has to be connected to a transformer with an electric wire. This can help generate electricity ."

On April 12, the PMO wrote to the state government to verify Dundi's claim. On May 17, the Odisha government directed the department concerned to study Dundi's project and send a report to the PMO.

"I have created a transformer that can store the charge from the silicon plate. It will be a proud moment for me if the PMO appreciates my innovation," said Dundi.

"Following demonetization, I tried to discover the best possible way of using the banned notes. I tore up a note and found the silicon plate. From there, I started my research and succeeded in producing electricity," he said, adding that it took him only 15 days to come up with the dynamics of the project.

Dundi has so far demonstrated his project only in college. "When nobody took notice, I wrote to the Prime Minister and chief minister," he said. The son of a farmer, Dundi earns a living by making and selling bulbs.

Indian rocket that US once ‘grounded’ will put Isro-Nasa satellite in space

NEW DELHI: In 1992, the US under President George Bush had slapped sanctions on Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) and prevented Russia from sharing cryogenic engine technology with the Indian space agency so as to check India from making missiles.

Two decades later, US space agency Nasa has joined hands with Isro to co-develop the world's most expensive earth imaging satellite that will cost the two countries over $1.5 billion. The irony is GSLV, which is likely to place this Nasa-Isro Synthetic Aperture Radar+ (NISAR) satellite into orbit in 2021, is the same rocket for whose cryogenic engine the US put sanctions on India.

Leaving the past behind, Isro and Nasa are busy building the 2,200kg NISAR satellite, which will provide a detailed view of the earth by using advanced radar imaging. It is being designed to observe and take measurements of some of the planet's complex processes, including ecosystem disturbances, ice-sheet collapse and natural hazards.

Nasa became interested in Isro when the Indian space agency in April 2012 launched the country's first indigenous radar imaging satellite+ (Risat-1), some called it a spy satellite, which enabled imaging of the earth's surface during day and night under all weather conditions.

The negotiations went on for two years but the formal agreement for NISAR satellite happened when Prime Minister Narendra Modi signed a declaration with former US President Barack Obama during his visit to the US in 2014. The objective behind the collaboration was to use the satellite for the "benefit of humanity" as the mapping data from this satellite will be available for all.

Currently, the Ahmedabad-based Space Application Centre (SAC) is flight testing the "mini version" of the radar satellite over the city skies. The "mini radar" developed by SAC has been fixed on a Beechcraft Super King B 200 — owned by Isro — for the flight-testing primarily to 'understand weather and geographical conditions'.

SAC director Tapan Misra said, "We are testing the radar by taking images from about 8km above the sea level. The same area will be further studied by scientists from the ground level to understand the radar's accuracy level."

He added, "For ground level data analysis, we are roping in NGOs, academic institutes, government departments and people with scientific expertise. This process of aerial data analysis will continue in Gujarat for three months until the crop season ends. We plan to conduct the same aerial-cum-ground exercise for three years in 39 places of the country, including over the Himalayan glaciers, Ganga, Sundarbans, Rann of Kutch, Andhra, Kerala and Karnataka, to study the geological changes in forests, vegetation, rivers and glaciers."

"The data gathered from the mini radar will be helpful when we will launch the NISAR satellite, most probably in 2021. The work on the main satellite is simultaneously going on," the SAC director said."The three basic functions of the satellite will be mapping the land mass, Arctic and Antarctica regions; analysis of seismic activities of the earth crust that will help in predicting earthquakes and tsunamis and analysis of drastic movement in glaciers and the rate at which these glaciers melt. The satellite, once put into its sun-synchronous dawn to dusk orbit, will map the entire world in 12 days," he added.