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Payel, a dyslexic student, had to fight a legal battle to get the admit card for the CBSE examination.

Alpana Das Sarkar, mother of 18-year-old Payel, had approached Birla High School for Girls -- Payel's examination centre -- on March 8 showing the circulars and amended examination bylaws.

According to the new rules set by the CBSE, dyslexic students should be allowed an additional 60 minutes in papers of three-hour duration. They should also get 50 minutes extra for a paper of 2 hour 30 minutes duration.

The Birla School authorities then asked Payel to bring a certificate from the Central School, Fort William, which would certify that the student was suffering from dyslexia. The certificate was issued by Fort William, along with Payel's medical certificate.

Following a report in The Indian Express on March 4, Alpana came to know about the new regulations. The CBSE had amended the examination bylaws in 2009 to provide relief to students suffering from dyslexia.

"Since I am getting an hour extra, I think I will be able to answer all the questions and I feel I will perform well in the examination," Payel told The Indian Express.

Alpana, meanwhile, is delighted that her daughter has not only been granted admit card but is given extra time to write her papers which she deserves because of her disability.

"I was not aware of the amended examination rules for dyslexic students. I came to know about it from media reports," said Alpana.

Replying to the debate on the Railway budget in the Rajya Sabha, Ms. Banerjee said the Ministry was losing 40 per cent revenue due to agitations, bandhs and other such activities in various parts of the country.

While admitting that the railways was the lifeline of the nation and people had great expectations from it, she said the Ministry did not have funds to fulfil all the demands. At least Rs 1 lakh crore was needed for the pending projects.

"Where will the money come from? It will not drop from the heavens," she said. Without long-term planning and execution of projects, it would not be possible for the railways to start new trains and decongest traffic.

The House returned the Appropriation bills concerned, as passed by the Lok Sabha, enabling the railways to withdraw money from the exchequer for a part of 2010-11 and some authorisations for the current fiscal and 2008-09.

Ms. Banerjee said the railways took pride in its 14 lakh employees. The Ministry had consulted the employees unions on various issues, including the PPP model and commercial utilisation plans.

The Ministry had set up a task force for land utilisation. This would prevent encroachment of vacant land. As per estimates, the railways had 43,000 hectares of surplus land and the Rail budget envisaged its commercial utilisation.

Defending the PPP model, she said that a decade ago she cleared the Pipava port project. By replicating such model, the railways could utilise land to develop tourist sites, pilgrimage circuits and spur economic activity.

The Ministry planned to set up a cell to develop business opportunities with the private sector. It would seek permission from the Prime Minister and the Planning Commission to have a single-window clearance system for PPP projects under short timelines.

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Following Delhi closely are Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Pune, ranked 2nd to 8th, respectively, in the overall quality of life ratings. Ironically, the NCR, which should have kept pace with the development of Delhi, has failed to do so. Gurgaon, Noida and Faridabad have been ranked 9th, 27th and 32nd, respectively.

A liveable city, according to the report, is not just an urbanised area in an urbanised region defined by the presence of a municipality.

Liveability refers to an urban system that contributes to the physical, social and mental well-being and personal development of all its inhabitants, it said.

Source: Mail Today Delhi Best City To Live In

Retailers are taking a relook at cash and carry (wholesale trading) ventures in the hope of tapping millions of kiranas (independent stores). The potential tie-ups with overseas firms - which are allowed to invest freely in the cash and carry business - are an additional temptation, say retailers and consultants tracking the sector.

Retailers are taking a relook at cash and carry (wholesale trading) ventures in the hope of tapping millions of kiranas (independent stores). The potential tie-ups with overseas firms - which are allowed to invest freely in the cash and carry business - are an additional temptation, say retailers and consultants tracking the sector.

Indiabulls' retail arm, Store One Retail, recently announced its foray into the cash and carry segment. Global investor TPG, which has put in a bid for debt-hit Vishal Retail, plans to convert the latter into a cash and carry venture. Aditya Birla Retail, part of the Aditya Birla Group, is also said to be ready with the back end and infrastructure required for the wholesaling business.

According to reports, even beleaguered Subhiksha Trading Services has entered the segment in its attempt to rejuvenate itself, tying up with kiranas as a supplier.

Cash-and-carry was not the business of choice for retailers in the slowdown era. Retailers such as the Future group, Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Retail, the Dhoot-family-led Videocon and Wadhawan Group's Spinach had deferred their cash and carry plans to conserve cash.

Source: business-standard By Raghavendra Kamath Retailers look afresh at wholesale biz

The Institute of Leadership, Entreprenuership and Development will offer Masters in Business Administration (MBA) with specialisations in marketing, finance, retail, risk management and diploma courses in real estate management.

'We are offering such courses that have a very high demand in the market. Placements for us would not be a problem as we are training people according to industry needs,' PS Group chairman Pradip Chopra said Thursday.

The total investment for setting up the campus would be Rs.25 crore, he said, adding this was being done through internal accrual.

The institute plans to rope in faculties- permanent and guest - from the US and the UK.

'We have also plans to set up a similar institute in Chennai,' Chopra said.

Plans are also afoot to set up office space in Siliguri, Patna and Raipur. Ambuja Realty chairman Harshavardhan Neotia on Thursday said the company plans to start construction of new projects in couple of months. "We are in the process of receiving the necessary approvals. All the projects will be ready for possession within three years," he added.

While Ambuja plans to invest Rs 200 crore for a 5-lakh sq ft business park in Salt Lake, the second project will be set up over 1.5 lakh sq ft and will entail an investment of around Rs 60 crore. On the other hand, the Rajarhat project (1.2 lakh sq ft) is coming close to the group's existing shopping mall, City Centre II, and will bear an investment of around Rs 35 crore.

"While we will definitely target the IT sector for leasing out and sell out of space, but the parks will be designed in a way which will have appeal for all the sectors. At the same time, we plan to set up office space in three of our upcoming mixed development projects in Siliguri, Patna and Raipur," said Mr Neotia.

Ambuja Realty on Thursday announced the launch of the second phase of the group's first business park, Ecospace, in Rajarhat. The second phase comprising of two blocks will have a saleable area of 4.5 lakh sq ft. The entire project is spread over 10 lakh sq ft. Already 85% of the area in the first phase is leased or sold out to the likes of Bajaj Allianz, HDFC Bank, Voith, Thyssenkrupp, Indus Towers and Bayer Corp. "Of the total project cost of Rs 300 crore, we have already invested Rs 200 crore in Ecospace. The project will be completely ready by April 2010."

When you're no longer there, the state will look after your child using the insurance money.

The scheme, called Asmita, to be launched by the National Trust ­ the autonomous branch of the ministry that focuses on these four particular disabili- ties ­ will provide life and acci- dent insurance cover to the par- ent or legal guardian of any child who falls in these categories.
Once you're gone, the money will be used by the National Trust to take lifelong care of your child.

Insurance companies have been asked to submit their bids by March 15. "We'll be working through the district collectors and var- ious NGOs working in this field, whom we are already in regu- lar touch with," said Atul Prasad, chief executive officer, National Trust. "We expect to launch in the next two months.
We hope to enroll around 10,000 parents in the first year."

"The premium will depend on the age of the parent. The older he/she is, the higher it will be," he added.

"Since this is a group insur- ance policy, the premium will be much lower than if a person insures himself individually," said Sanjay Pande, Managing Director, Amicus Advisory.

There are an estimated 22 lakh people suffering from these four forms of disability, accord- ing to National Trust statistics.

"Requests for de-notification by the developers have been received from 13 SEZs located in the states/Union territories of Delhi, Orissa, Gujarat etc, of which 12 have been approved by the Board of Approval," Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Jyotiraditya Scindia said in a written reply.

Board of Approval (BoA), a 19-member inter-ministerial group headed by Commerce Secretary Rahul Khullar, approves the SEZ projects.

Scindia said that the final de-notification is allowed only on refund of duties or benefits, "if any, availed by the developer."

The SEZs, which have been denotified by the BoA includes four IT-ITeS zones of realty major DLF in Haryana, Gujarat, and Orissa.

On the de-notification of three SEZs in Goa, the minister said that the state government "may have compensate the developers". However, he said that the developers have approached the judiciary and the matter is sub-judice.

"The Goa government had recommended 15 proposals for setting up of SEZs. Out of these, 7 proposals were accorded formal approval by the BoA and notifications were issued in respect of three cases," he said.

For a nine-tonne payload between Delhi-Mumbai-Delhi, rentals rose to INR 46,000 per trip as on March 3 from INR 42700 per trip as on February 4 a rise of 7.73%for Delhi-Nagpur-Delhi INR 43,400 from INR 40,200, a rise of 7.96% for Delhi to Kolkata to Delhi INR 44,800 from INR 41,500, a rise of 7.95%, Delhi to Guwahati-Delhi INR 82,000 from INR 77,200 a rise of 6.22%.

According to a compilation made by the Indian Foundation of Transport Research and Training, a non government organization associated with the transport sector, the rise of 6% to 8% in truck rentals is at a higher side compared with the weighted impact of the diesel hike of 3.5% to 4.5%.

Mr SP Singh senior fellow and coordination of the foundation, said that "This disproportionate and concerted hike across the country has come against the backdrop of the booming transport freight market, as manufacturing and import-export trade is growing at double digits and it has improved the cargo offering by 10% to 12% in last four to five months."

Mr Singh further added that truck rentals had already gone up cumulatively by 14% to 16% during October 2009-January 2010 even without the rise in diesel price. He added that "This hike was a cushion to absorb the diesel price rise of INR 2.58 per liter ex Delhi and INR 3 per liter ex Mumbai and Chennai. However, the market forces are in favour of the truck transport industry due to oversupply of cargo and the manufacturing sector willing to pay higher freight due to increased prices of their products."

After working for over a year to prepare detailed map of Delhi using 3-D imaging, the Delhi State Spatial Data Infrastructure project is now ready for implementation.

Over 330 applications have been shortlisted by 35 state departments that will begin using the information provided through this project for their various needs from April 1.

The Archeological Survey of India (ASI) will be the first department to implement the project. It will use the project to have real-time online tours of monuments in the Capital... on the lines of the tour of the Louvre Museum in Paris.

The Rs 120-crore project, started in March 2008, entails a detailed 3-dimensional map of Delhi (ground-level and underground) through aerial photographs.

There will also be real-time monitoring of the ground situation in the city with the help of 64 wireless internet protocol cameras. There will two control rooms, one at Delhi Secretariat and other at Survey of India office, along with the 10 monitoring centres that will be located across the city.

Each of the nine administrative districts will have seven cameras, installed on top of the tallest building in the area. These cameras can give precision pictures of objects upto a distance of 5 km and cost Rs 5 lakh.

Earlier, Chief Secretary Rakesh Mehta had asked the 35 departments to choose five applications each to utilise the available data. The departments have reverted to Survey of India and IT department with a list of 335 applications.

Source: The Indian Express Delhi's 3-D map ready, govt depts to begin use from April 1

The Victoria Memorial authorities had moved to the Supreme Court  seeking to "modify" a Calcutta High Court order disallowing any new structure on the monument premises.

Barely two days into final placements, more than half the students of the class of 2010 at Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta (IIM-C) have received job offers from domestic and international recruiters.

Slot Zero, or the first two days of the final placement process, saw IIM-C students receiving at least 91 offers, according to a statement released by the B-school. The placement process was still under way for at least three more companies when the statement was received.

Along with pre-placement and lateral offers, the total number of offers received so far stands at 216.

"There would be some overlapping with students receiving multiple offers, but we expect around 160 students to move out of the placement process by tonight," said Samyukktha Thirumeni, external relations secretary at IIM-C.

The institute is placing a batch of 287 students this year. Accenture was the biggest recruiter during Slot Zero this year, having made 11 offers to IIM-C students.

Source: Live Mint By Aveek Datta 91 offers in two days at IIM-C's placements

Stating that LIC was the second largest real estate asset holder in the country after the Railways, besides being the largest investor, Chairman of LIC T S Vijayan said that LIC was looking at a real estate income of Rs 200 crore to Rs 300 crore.

He said LIC was at a premium income of Rs 1,76,000 crore during the current fiscal. To a query, he said that LIC was aiming at 18 per cent to 19 per cent growth in the next fiscal.

The insurer would be investing Rs 2 lakh crore in the current fiscal, out of which 15 per cent would be in infrastructure projects.

Laying the foundation stone of a residential housing complex in south Kolkata on Sunday, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said that LIC was contributing to 4 per cent of the country's GDP as well as paying hefty dividends to the exchequer.

"We are scrutinising all types of fund flows into the sector but no decision has been taken on whether to curb them or not," said R Gopalan, secretary in the financial service department of the finance ministry.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has been cautioning banks against lending to the sector and asked them to continuously monitor the money going in. On their part, banks have curtailed lending to real estate firms. The total outstanding of banks to the real estate sector stood at Rs 88,581 crore as on November 21, 2009. The banks exposure to the real estate sector has gone down by a little over Rs 8,000 crore between June and November 2009. In a speech last week RBI deputy governor Usha Thorat had said that banks were expected to monitor their exposure to commercial real estate so as to limit the risk of a downturn in the sector.

"Although no regulatory limit is specified in this regard, RBI keeps a close watch on each bank's exposure to commercial real estate through offsite surveillance and initiates corrective actions where necessary."

Source: Realty Plus Real estate fund flow under watch

A student from the IIM-C has bagged a record-breaking package from a global investment bank in South East Asia of $350,000 (Rs.1.6 crore) making the institute a hot destination for the recruiters with exceptional pay packets this year.

Two more students have been offered the bulky packets of over Rs.1 crore each.

Beating the rest of the IIMs with 91 slot zero offers (when the largest firms give out their best salaries) it was the highest among all, considering just two days of its commencement, said sources.

The newly introduced cohort system based placements has lead to the IIM-Bangalore standing at the second position after Calcutta with 64 slot zero offers followed by IIM-Ahmedabad with 50. These figures exclude the pre-placement offers.

These three students are to be placed in London and Hong Kong investment banks as associates.

There were initial rumors that the highest pay packet of Rs.1.44 crore has been bagged by a student from IIM-A while that of IIM-B's was Rs.1.14 crore this year which later was confirmed and the crown was given to IIM-C.

Source: indiaedunews.net IIM Calcutta graduate gets 1.6 crore package