Ind Vs Pak : "WINNING MOMENTS" Cricket world cup 2011 semi-final ..

INDIA beats PAKISTAN !!! Moves into the final with SriLanka .. India breathes normally now .. well played India, congratulations !!

Time....Value

Don't say you don't have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michaelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein.

When it is dark enough, you can see the stars

India - World's Largest Arms Importer

 In its race to join the club of international powers, India has reached another milestone - it's now the world's largest weapons importer.

A Swedish think tank that monitors global arms sales has said that India's weapons imports had overtaken China's, as the South Asian nation pushes ahead with plans to modernise its military and gain international clout.

"India has ambitions to become first a continental and (then) a regional power," said Rahul Bedi, a South Asia analyst with London-based Jane's Defence Weekly. "To become a big boy, you need to project your power."

     According to the report from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, India accounted for nine per cent of all international arms imports in the period from 2006 to 2010, and it is expected to keep the top spot for the foreseeable future.

"Just from what they have already ordered, we know that in the coming few years India will be the top importer," said Siemon Wezeman, a senior fellow at the institute.

Defence Ministry spokesman Sitanshu Kar declined to comment on the report before he had a chance to read it.

China dropped to second place, with six per cent of global imports, as it continued to build up its domestic arms industry, Wezeman said.

The United States was the largest arms exporter, followed by Russia and Germany, according to the report.

The institute measures arms transactions over a five-year period to take into account the long time lag between orders and delivery of arms.

India is spending billions of dollars on fighter jets and aircraft carriers to modernise its air force and navy. With its booming economy and growing power, India has been pushing for a greater international role, including a permanent seat on the UN Security Council. To buttress its claim, Bedi said, a modernised Indian military would need to take part in more global operations, helping countries suffering from natural calamities and joining peacekeeping missions. India's defence budget for the coming year is Rs 1.5 trillion ($ 32.5 billion), a 40 per cent increase from two years before. It imports more than 70 per cent of its arms.

The vast majority of those imports, 82 per cent, come from Russia, which has long been India's supplier of choice, the report said. But other countries have been pushing for a chunk of the lucrative market, with world leaders streaming here in recent months, in part to push defence deals.

During British Prime Minister David Cameron's July visit, the two countries announced a nearly $1.1 billion deal for India to buy 57 Hawk advanced trainer jets. During President Barack Obama's November visit, a $ 4.1 billion sale of 10 C-17 transport aircraft was announced.

France and India moved closer to finalising a $ 2.1 billion Mirage 2000 fighter aircraft upgrade deal during President Nicolas Sarkozy's December visit, and a few weeks later India and Russia agreed to jointly develop a fifth generation fighter aircraft during President Dmitry Medvedev's visit.

India is awaiting delivery of a $ 2.3 billion rebuilt aircraft carrier from Russia - as it builds another carrier itself - and has ordered six submarines worth $ 4.5 billion from France.

With India expected to spend $ 80 billion over the next decade to upgrade its military, more plums await.

India is in the market to buy 126 fighter jets, a deal worth $ 11 billion, and about 200 helicopters worth another $ 4 billion. It also has plans to buy large amphibious landing ships at $ 300 million to $500 million each and is discussing another $ 10 billion submarine order, Mr. Wezeman said.

"The kind of purchases that India is buying, no country in the world buys," Bedi said. "What is in the pipeline is huge."

India last topped the list in 1992, just after its main arms supplier, the Soviet Union, collapsed.

Through much of the 1990s and early 2000s, the Indian military stopped making major purchases.

When the country refocused on its military in recent years, the needs were enormous, said Ajai Shukla, an Indian military analyst and former army colonel.

"A lot of this buying you are seeing is this backlog of replacement that you should have seen happening in a phased and staggered manner," he said. "It's all happening now in a bunch."

"You only have to do a very few things right in your life so long as you don't do too many things wrong." - Warren Buffett

ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 - INDIA vs SOUTH AFRICA -(Nagpur)

Another big day in the 2011 World Cup, the hosts India lock horns with South Africa at Nagpur, the Orange City. After what we saw yesterday, with Bangladesh winning against England in a thriller, Group B is still wide open and South Africa would want nothing less than a win. India, on the other hand, are one of the only two teams who haven't lost a single game in the tournament until now. Their bowling has been a bit of a conern, but will they step up when it really matters?

Life Of Hindu's In Pakistan

Durga temple faces destruction in Pakistan

A historical temple of Durga Mata in Pakistan's Sindh district may be destroyed within a month, thanks to the apathy of authorities, warns Tahir Ali

            The demolition of Hindu temples in Pakistan for the construction of parks, schools etc is a common phenomenon in Pakistan.

In the latest such incident, some contractors have started digging granite stones at the base of a hill, on top of which a historical temple of Durga Mata is located, in Sindh district. Despite opposition by local Hindus, the digging work is going ahead and the temple may be completely demolished within a month.

'This shows how helpless Hindus are in Pakistan'

     The ancient temple is located on top of a hill in Nagarparkar in Tharparkar district of Sindh. A number of Hindu and Jain temples are located in Nagarparkar and its surrounding areas. Most of them date back to 2,000 to 2,500 years.

Instead of trying to put a stop to the digging activity, the Sindh government has issued a lease to a contractor to carry out the work.

Veerjhi Kohli, caretaker of the temple, told, "The way the work of blasting is going on, the temple will be demolished within a month. The hill (on which the temple is located) is going to be dug up from all sides, how will the temple survive? The demolition of the temple shows how helpless Hindus living in Pakistan are."

 'We Hindus feel alienated in Pakistan'

  Veerjhi added, "Some two lakh pilgrims visited the Durga Mata temple during Shivratri. The pilgrims had protested the destruction and urged the government to stop the work, but to no avail. The work was halted during the festival but now it has resumed again."

The Pakistani media also doesn't highlight the destruction of temples, laments Veerjhi, adding that it doesn't focus on the plight of Hindus in the country.

"Neither any TV channel nor any leading newspaper reported our protests. After such incidents, we Hindus feel alienated in Pakistan," he told.    

Hindu activists have approached local political figures and other concerned authorities but none of them have offered to help. "We were shocked by the district coordination officer's remark, who said the temple was safe and there was no risk to it from the digging," Veerjhi said.

Deoband row: Panel to probe Vastanvi's pro-Modi comments

      The verdict is finally out. Maulana Ghulam Mohammed Vastanvi, the MBA cleric from Gujarat, will stay on as the vice chancellor of India's oldest school of Sunni Islamic learning, Darul Uloom.

Vastanvi, who had raised the hackles of conservatives by his alleged praise of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, on Wednesday appeared to have earned a reprieve when the highest decision-making body of the institution rejected his resignation.

In an apparent move to appease all the parties concerned, the Majlis-e-Shoora has decided to let Vastanvi stay as the vice chancellor, but also ordered an inquiry against him. What's more, a 'caretaker' VC also has been named, citing Vastanvi's frequent trips to his hometown in Gujarat.

The council has appointed a three member committee to look into the allegations against him.


"I will continue to be the VC. The final decision on my resignation will come after the three-member committee report is submitted to the Shoora. They have not been given any time-frame, but have been asked to submit the report as soon as possible. My responsibilities and duties remain the same," Vastanvi told reporters after the meeting.

Pak's Hindu temples turned into picnic spots, hotels

Hindus in Pakistan are watching helplessly as ancient temples turn into ruins due to the apathy of authorities, reports Tahir Ali from Islamabad.

     Despite being the second largest ethnic majority in the country, Hindus in Pakistan have been unable to acquire possession of their religious places, agricultural land and other commercial areas. Due to lack of government action, most sacred sites for Hindus are in a dilapidated condition; the rest have been converted into schools, hotels or business centres.

According to the National Commission for Inter-Religious Dialogue and Ecumenism, Pakistan is home to 3.9 million (39 lakh) Hindus. Most members of the minority community belong to impoverished agricultural families.

A report of the Evacuee Trust Property Board reveals that 135,000 acres of land belonging to Hindu farmers is under the control of ETBP, of which 125,000 acres is fertile and suitable for cultivation. 

'Hindus are left behind in every walk of life'

          A number of sacred sites, commercial spaces and other properties are also in the possession of ETBP. Ironically, to control Hindu assets and properties, ETPB employs extensive machinery comprising mostly of Muslim workers. Local Hindus have demanded that the ETPB should give them some jobs, as it is reluctant to hand over the possession of their assets.

"The Hindus are left behind in every walk of life. They don't have possession of their sacred places and other properties. If Hindus were given the possession of their assets, their misery could be alleviated," Haroon Sayab Diyal, chairman of the Pakistan Hindu Rights Movement, 

Hindus won't have to rely on special quotas for jobs

      Haroon Diyal says, "Handing over these properties to the original heirs would also enable the Hindu minority population to stand on its feet. Our youngsters will be able to avail the various educational opportunities. After receiving proper qualifications, they can function as citizens of Pakistan -- no one would then have to rely on special quotas for jobs."

Pakistani Hindus complain that their sacred sites are misused by illegal possessors. In Dera Ismail Khan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, a group has illegally acquired the 700-year-old Kali Bari Mandir and is now using it as a hotel.

 'The temple is used in an unholy way'

According to local Hindus, the occupants of the temple pay only Pakistani Rs 1,600 to the government and earn thousands of rupees per day from the hotel.

Vijay Kumar, a Hindu activist, says, "Due to the hotel's activities, the temple is used in an unholy way. Though a number of sacred idols are missing from the temple, this historically important site could attract Hindu pilgrims from around the globe."

Though the Hindu community has taken up this issue a number of times with the government, no action has been taken so far. "In April 2009, after our request to the then governor of KPK Owais Ghani, an inquiry was ordered in the case of the disputed Kali Bari Mandir, but no action was taken about it," says Diyal.         

The issue of Kali Bari is not an isolated example. In Islamabad, Hindus have no access to a temple situated at Saidpur model village.

Success.....@@@

Desire is the key to motivation, but it's determination and commitment to an unrelenting pursuit of your goal, a commitment to excellence that will enable you to attain the success you seek.

Supermoon next week may cause disaster on Earth

             The world could be in for a bumpy ride next week when the moon will make its closest approach to Earth in almost 20 years, say experts.

        According to them, the astronomical event - "extreme supermoon" - may trigger earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other disasters.

          An "extreme supermoon" occurs when the Earth's natural satellite reaches its absolute closest point. On March 19, the moon will be only 221,556 miles away - the first extreme super - moon in nearly 20 years.

        Previous supermoons - or "lunar perigees" - happened in 1955, 1974, 1992 and 2005. Each year had extreme weather events.

        However, TV weatherman John Kettley was quoted by the media as saying, "A moon can't cause a geological event like an earthquake, but it will cause a difference to the tide. If that combines with certain weather conditions, then that could cause a few problems for coastal areas."

Breakfast Cereal Packets 'Linked to Cancer'

A new study in Europe has warned of a possible link between recycled breakfast cereal packets and cancer.

               Researchers in Switzerland claim to have found that mineral oils in printing ink from recycled newspapers used in cardboard can get into foods such as breakfast cereals, even passing through protective inner plastic bags. Even  brands of pasta and rice which are packaged in recycled cardboard could also pose a risk.

             Dr Koni Grob from the Food Safety Laboratory in Zurich said toxicologists had linked the oils to inflammation of internal organs and even cancer, though he stressed that individual meals would contain a tiny dose of the chemicals.

           The researchers analysed 119 products bought from German supermarkets last year and found that a large majority contained traces of mineral oils higher than the agreed level, the British media reported. Only those with thicker and more expensive inner lining bags appeared to escape contamination, which increased the longer products were on the shelves.

           "Roughly 30 products from 119 were free of mineral oils, nearly all because of an inner barrier. For the others, they all exceeded the limits and most exceeded it by 10 times. We calculated that before the end of their shelf life, they would probably exceed the limit 50 times on average and many would exceed it by several hundred times," Dr Grob said. "Studies on rats have highlighted the dangers to health of mineral oils," said Dr Grob, adding, "Toxicologists talk about two effects. One is the chronic inflammation of various internal organs and the other one is cancer." He added that "One meal has no real effect on health. It is a matter of long-term exposure."

            The revelations have immediately prompted leading cereal manufacturers like Jordans to announce it had already stopped using recycled cardboard. Other manufacturers like the Kellogg's said they were looking at the research and taking action to reduce levels of mineral oils in their packaging.

             A Kellogg's spokesman said: "While experts tell us there's no immediate health concern, we are looking at our packaging. We are working with our suppliers on new packaging which allows us to meet our environmental commitments but will  also contain significantly lower levels of mineral oil."

Hidden Dangers of Plastic

Study: Even "BPA-Free" Plastics Leach Endrocrine-Disrupting Chemicals - 

                  Plastics. They seem so...inert. Slow to erode or decay, with a biodegradation time measured in the hundreds of years, plastics appear cut off from the organic environment in the way that no other product is, safe and secure and sterile. Yet scientists have begun to learn that plastics are anything but impermeable. Plastic containers and linings—especially those used in food containers that might end up being heated or washed—often leach chemicals into the surrounding environment. And some of those chemicals—like bisphenol-A (BPA) and phthalates—may do strange things to the body, mimicking and disrupting hormones in ways that haven't yet been fully understood.

               While the science over such "endocrine disrupting" chemicals is still far from certain, enough researchers have raised worries that some parents have begun avoiding some plastics in an effort to shield children from toxins. (Pregnant women and infant children seem especially vulnerable to endocrine-disrupting chemicals.) Manufacturers have even begun advertising some products as "BPA-free."

                  Beijing might have the right idea, because it may turn out that endocrine-disrupting chemicals like BPA are even more common than we imagined. In a new study for the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, researchers found that most plastic products leach endocrine-disrupting chemicals—and that was true even for products labeled "BPA-free." Scientists led by George Bittner, a neurobiologist at the University of Texas,looked at 455 common plastic products and found that 70% tested positive for estrogenic activity. Once those products were subject to real-world conditions—microwaving or dishwashing—that proportion rose to 95%. As the study concluded:

Almost all commercially available plastic products we sampled, independent of the type of resin, product, or retail source, leached chemicals having reliably-detectable EA, including those advertised as BPA-free. In some cases, BPA-free products released chemicals having more EA [endocrine activity] than BPA-containing products.

     BPA is particularly worrisome simply because it is so common. Nearly every American has some amount of BPA in their body, in part because plastics are so ubiquitous. (And the U.S. seems to be especially contaminated—a recent study found that Americans have twice as much BPA in their body as Canadians.) The Food and Drug Administration expressed "some concerns" last year about the potential impact of BPA on the brains of fetuses, infants and children—but no federal agency has yet said that BPA or any other potentially endocrine-disrupting chemicals are unsafe.

               Washington may be reluctant to act, but other authorities are moving forward. Cities and states including Connecticut and Minnesota are working to restrict BPA in baby products, while even China—not exactly a country on the forefront of environmental protection—is reportedly planning to ban BPA in children's products. Even some corporations are moving faster than federal regulators on chemical safety—Wal-Mart announced last month that it had banned the polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE), a class of flame retardants that has been linked to a number of health problems.

            Just because some big companies are moving ahead on chemical safety doesn't mean that industry as a whole is ready to be a leader—a spokesman for the American Council on Science and Health, an industry-funded lobbying group, criticized Wal-Mart for giving into environmentalists. In any case, there should be no doubt that our chemical regulations lag far behind the science—the Toxic Substances Control Act, the decades-old law that governs chemical safety, doesn't give the government sufficient enforcement powers. Industry likes to talk about promoting "science-based" regulation. Based on the conclusions of studies like this one, I couldn't agree more.

'Corrective Rape': Fighting a South African Scourge

                 It was around 11 p.m. on a Friday in Gugulethu — a township on the edge of Cape Town — and Millicent Gaika, 30, was almost home when a man she recognized stopped her and asked for a cigarette. Gaika obliged. The man then pushed her into a nearby shack and beat and raped her for five hours. Gaika later told police that throughout the assault, her attacker repeatedly said, "You think you're a man, but I'm going to show you you're a woman." Charged with rape, the 43-year-old man is scheduled to go to court on March 15.

                  Gaika is a rarity in South Africa, indeed in all of Africa, as an openly gay woman. And since her attack, which took place in 2009, she has become something of an icon in the battle against the South African phenomenon called "corrective rape." Virtually unknown to the rest of the world at the time of Gaika's ordeal, corrective rape has since become a hot issue. Through online campaigns, nearly a million people have joined local activists in demanding that the South African government recognize corrective rape as a hate crime. But with so few cases of homophobic violence resulting in trials — and of those, almost none ending in conviction — the activists have a long fight ahead of them.

                    Zukiswa Gaca's attacker was also someone she knew. A soft-spoken 20-year-old who wears her jeans baggy and her head shaved, Gaca is from Khayelitsha, another sprawling squatter camp outside the city center. When she was raped by an acquaintance in 2009, he told her he was "teaching her a lesson." "I don't feel safe anywhere," she says. "I have to always know where I'm going, who I'm going with. I don't trust anyone."

                    South Africa should be a beacon of tolerance. Its constitution was the first in the world to outlaw discrimination based on sexual orientation, and the country was the first in Africa to legalize same-sex marriage. That broadmindedness  should echo even more loudly in Cape Town, the gay mecca of Africa, with its annual gay-pride march and fashionable gay-nightclub district, De Waterkant.

                    But in the townships on the city's outskirts, another reality reigns. The rate of violence against women in South Africa is among the highest in the world. Human-rights organizations estimate that over 40% of South African women will be raped in their lifetime and say that only 1 in 9 rapes are reported — which is to say that the average South African woman is more likely to be raped than complete secondary school. A survey by South Africa's Medical Research Council in June 2009 found that 1 in 4 South African men admitted to having "had sex with a woman when she didn't consent," and 46% of those said they had done so more than once.

                    Gays and lesbians are a particular target in South Africa, as they are across Africa, where traditional social conservatism is being distilled into an angry homophobia. The first case of homophobic violence to gain national prominence in South Africa was the 2006 murder of Zoliswa Nkonyana, 19, who was clubbed, stoned and beaten to death by a mob of 20 young men. On Monday, dozens of demonstrators gathered to protest the fact that the nine men accused of Nkonyana's murder still haven't been sentenced — a court adjourned with yet another delay, the 32nd time the trial has been postponed. Of the 31 lesbians murdered in South Africa since 1998, the only case to result in a conviction was that of Eudy Simelane, the star player for Banyana Banyana, South Africa's national women's soccer team, who was gang-raped and murdered outside Johannesburg in 2008. Rights activists estimate that there are 10 corrective rapes a week just in Cape Town — a city of 2.5 million people.

                     "We accept that there is room for improvement, but that does not mean that the situation has gotten out of hand," says Minister of Justice spokesperson Tlali Tlali, despite the country's moniker as the "rape capital of the world." Activists vehemently disagree with Tlali's statement, and almost 1 million signatures from 163 countries gathered by the sites Change.org and Avaaz.org seem to have persuaded the government to act: the Justice Ministry has finally agreed to a meeting on the issue of corrective rape. With hopes of tackling the intersecting issues of sexual violence, homophobic violence and hate crimes, a host of organizations have come together to develop a national action plan to be proposed at the meeting, set to take place on March 14 — the day before Millicent Gaika's trial. "We won't stop until the President reads new legislation to the country," says Ndumie Funda, who heads the support group Luleki Sizwe and who was the fiancée of a victim of corrective rape.
             Real justice may require more than new legislation, however. A sea change in attitudes, inside governments and across communities, is what is needed, says Gugulethu resident Ambatha Ntloko. "Lesbians get raped and killed because it is accepted by the community and by our culture," he says. "But the world is changing, and people need to change along with it."

Kuch aisa ho jaye

Kuch aisa ho jaye wo beete hua pal laut aye,

Wo ma ki lori , wo dost ka saath, wo barish me nahana, wo collage ki ek ladki ki baat,

Wo didi ka pyaar, wo bhai ka daatna, wo rota hua chairha, wo gum dosto ko batna,

Wo kagaj ki naav ko panai mein chalana, wo kunchoo (marbles) ke peche gaali sunana,

Wo mahule ki gali, wo bejli ka pole, wo tuta hua balla, wo kagaj ki ball,

Wo rote hue jeetna, wo dosto mein jhuuuuumna,

Sub kuch ulta fulta gum jaye,

bus ek bar Kuch aisa ho jaye wo beete hua pal laut aye,

Wo ma ka haath pakdte hue chulna, wo lukdi k ghode ko pakad kur uchalna,

Wo khilone, wo gaadi, wo maaa ki goadhi or bhigi hui saadi, jut se neech or jut se utana,

Mera rota hua chera, hassi me badal jana…

wo logo ka kehna  na pari na tu husta hi jaye, 

bus ek bar Kuch aisa ho jaye wo beete hua pal laut aye,

wo patango ki paich, wo maanje ki door, wo choti se class mein dosto ka shoor,

wo haatho mein likhna, tera hi naam, wo masti ki mehfil, wo lehrate hue jam,

wo collage ka campus, wo Anwar ka naam,

bhule nahi bhulta mein dosto ka saath, rote hue kurta hu mein subko yaad,

wo dosto ki mehfil bhir se jhoom jaye,

bus ek baar Kuch aisa ho jaye wo beete hua pal laut aye,