Thursday 30 August 2012

Chidambaram worships at Tirumala temple


Tirupati, Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram offered worship at the famous famous hill shrine of Lord Venkateswara at Tirumala near here tonight. Chidambaram, on his first visit to the shrine after assuming charge of Finance Ministry recently, was accompanied by his wife Nalini, son Karti Chidambaram and daughter-in-law Srinidhi Karti and other family members.

Temple management presented him with sacred water, 'laddu' prasadam and a silk cloth. Chidambaram and his family members were in the temple for about half-an-hour. Before offering prayers, the Minister along with other family members witnessed an hour-long 'bharatanatyam’ dance performance by his daughter-in-law in front of the temple.

Top Tirumala Tirumala Devasthanams (TTD) officials and several local politicians besides and huge rush of devotees were present at the venue. Earlier, Chidambaram arrived at the Renigunta airport near here this afternoon and reached Tirumala by road. Chidambaram was accorded a warm welcome by TTD Board Chairman K. Bapiraju and other officials at the temple entrance.

After overnight halt, he would offer worship in the temple again tomorrow morning before winding up his pilgrimage trip, temple sources said. This is Chidambaram’s third visit to the ancient temple since UPA came to power. Earlier, he had offered worship at the shrine in 2004 as then Finance Minister and in June 2010 as Home Minister, the sources added.

MP to give Rs one cr reward to Sushil Kumar, Vijay Kumar each


Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh Government has announced a cash reward of Rs one crore each to Olympic silver medallist wrestler Sushil Kumar and shooter Vijay Kumar and Rs 50 lakh each to the bronze medallists. The announcement was made by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan here last evening at a function where some sports persons were honoured with the state's 'Shikhar Khel Alankaran 2012' award. The ceremony is held every year on the occasion of the birth anniversary of the hockey legend Major Dhyanchand.

"The government will give the bronze medallist of the Londond Olympics, Saina Nehwal (badminton), Gagan Narang (shooting), Mary Kom (boxing) and Yogeshwar Dutt (wrestling) Rs 50 lakh cash award," Chouhan said. According to him, Madhya Pradesh is ready to adopt the game of hockey in the interest of the nation, especially in view of the Rio Olympics and urged the Centre to give permission in this regard. "We want to adopt hockey so that we can provide proper training and facilities to the players to prepare them for 2016 Olympics," Chouhan said.

Olympic silver medallist Sushil Kumar, who was also present on the occasion, said that he was overwhelmed by the honour given to him on his arrival in Madhya Pradesh and added that his only aim was to win a gold for the country. 

Gold Hallmarking


New Delhi, To protect consumers from unscrupulous jewellers, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has advised the government to enforce compulsory hallmarking of gold jewellery. Hallmarking of gold, which is voluntary at present, is a purity certification of the precious metal. The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), under the Consumer Affairs Ministry, is the administrative authority of hallmarking.

"The Consumer Affairs Ministry and BIS may consider hallmarking of gold jewellery under mandatory certification so as to safeguard the interst of the consumers," CAG said in a report tabled in Parliament today. Consumers were exposed to the risk of buying impure gold jewellery due to inadequate coverage of Indian jewellers and goldsmiths under the BIS's volunatary hallmarking scheme as the hallmarking was not made mandatory, it noted a report.

It also said BIS Act had not been amended to cover hallmarking under mandatory certification. Noting that the reply of the BIS is not acceptable that the jurisdication to amend the Act for making gold hallmarking mandatory rested with the Consumer Affairs Ministry, it said, "Since it (BIS) is the national standard body of the country and is mandated to provide quality assurance to the consumers, whether the concerned standard is made mandatory or not." 

In early January, the Cabinet had approved the BIS (Amendment) Bill that aims to expand the ambit of mandatory hallmarking to include more products, including gold. The Bill has not yet been introduced in Parliament. 

Hyderabad


Hyderabad, The presence of fire crackers led to rapid spread of the blaze in the gutted bogie of Tamil Nadu Express, in which over 30 passengers were killed last month, forensic experts have claimed. A senior forensic scientist, who was part of the team that collected burnt articles from the bogie, said "they had found fire crackers' material from the bogie which indicates that burning of crackers rapidly spread the fire in the bogie, however, initiation of fire is still not known."

The fire crackers or its powder seems to have been stored below atleast six seats in the coach, he said. The team of Andhra Pradesh Forensic Science Laboratory (APFSL) experts, who examined the gutted S-11 bogie of Tamil Nadu Express, submitted a report in this regard to the Railway authorities yesterday, the official said adding that a copy was also forwarded to Commissioner, Railway Safety (South Central circle).

Thirty-two passengers were charred to death and 25 others injured when a fire broke out in S-11 coach of the New Delhi-Chennai Tamil Nadu Express on July 30 near Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh. A 'blast theory' and short-circuit behind the devastating fire had initially made the rounds as one injured passenger, Madanlal, had earlier claimed that he woke up after hearing a loud noise (with sound just like after a blast) in the coach and that there were at least two more such thuds.

Railway Minister Mukul Roy had earlier entrusted the investigation in the mishap to D K Singh, the South Central Railway Safety Commissioner.

Ana Ivanovic


New York: Former top-ranked players Ana Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic of Serbia are quietly into the third round of the U.S. Open with impressive performances so far.

Each has dropped just nine games through two straight-set wins. The 12th-seeded Ivanovic beat 51st-ranked Sofia Arvidsson of Sweden 6-2, 6-2 on Thursday. Jankovic, seeded 30th, defeated 115th-ranked Lara Arruabarrena-Vecino of Spain 6-4, 6-2.

Both women reached No. 1 in the world in 2008, a breakthrough year for Serbian tennis when Ivanovic won the French Open and countryman Novak Djokovic took the Australian Open.

While Djokovic has since won four more Grand Slam titles, Ivanovic and Jankovic have often struggled in the last four years.