No electricity for 15 days for this Gurgaon family

It has been a cruel summer, quite literally, for the Tejwanis in Guragon. If the exceedingly hot and humid conditions weren't enough, the family has had to battle prolonged power cuts. For over a fortnight, they have had little or no electricity, which has translated into no water and consequently, no peace of mind. "We have just had enough...there is no water in the toilets, none to wash with and none to drink...kids get cranky, we get annoyed. What are we supposed to do?" says Varsha Tejwani. As they spend the harrowing days and sleepless nights, the only route of escape from this unending misery - the cool confines of their air-conditioned car where Varsha's daughter studies. "I have to prepare for exams, but there is no electricity...we haven't slept all night. Even our coaching class has no electricity and classes are getting cancelled," says Shilpa Tejwani. Anger in Delhi over water, power crisis The Tejwanis' are just one among several families in Gurgaon and across the National Capital Region (NCR) which are sweating it out in the hottest summer in decades. With the mercury hovering constantly over the 40-degree-mark and with the rains nowhere in sight, parts of Gurgaon have been experiencing outages for nearly 20 hours a day. Pockets of Ghaziabad and Noida are also witnessing power cuts for 8-10 hours daily while Faridabad, too, is no better with electricity gone for upto seven hours. Even as angry and hapless residents are left to deal with this torture, power authority officials still contend that Delhi and its surrounding areas are better off vis-a-vis the rural areas nearby. In the face of the unprecedented heat wave, the demand for power in Delhi and the NCR has surged to a peak of 2,17,000 megawatt. The current power generation, however, is just 1,99,877 megawatts, thus, resulting in a deficit of 15-20%. What is more worrying is the fact that around 30 power stations have just about a week's coal left to fuel the power plants, according to the central electricity authority, But experts say that it's utter mismanagement on the part of the authorities that has contributed to the crisis. With no help forthcoming from the government, it seems the rain gods are the only hope for the residents.

Jagan Mohan Reddy's mother meets Manmohan Singh

New Delhi: Congress rebel Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy's mother Vijayamma today knocked at the doors of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh demanding a probe by a Supreme Court Judge into the alleged harassment of her jailed son by the CBI and "ulterior motive" of a particular official of the agency. Heading a delegation of the YSR Congress, Vijayamma explained to Manmohan Singh in detail the events leading to the questioning and subsequent arrest of her son Jagan, Lok Sabha MP from Kadapa in Andhra Pradesh, on the evening of May 27, just a fortnight before by-elections to 18 assembly seats. Vijayamma, MLA from Pulivendula seat which was held by her husband Y S Rajasekhara Reddy several times, alleged that there was a "greater conspiracy" to harass Jagan and named a senior CBI official of acting with "ulterior motive" in a memorandum submitted to the Prime Minister. Also Read Jagan Mohan Reddy to stay in jail; court rejects his bail plea CBI files fourth chargesheet against Jagan Mohan Reddy Also See 2:23 Jagan pollooza. He takes 15 of 18 assembly seats 3:26 Chief Minister Jagan Reddy by 2014, says sister Sharmila "I also told the Prime Minister that taking the name of Y S Rajasekhara Reddy in the FIR was a wrong move. I also asked him what was the mistake done by Jagan? Why was he arrested when he was just accused no: 51 in the case? I also asked him why Jagan and his associates are being harrased?" she said. In the memorandum, the YSR Congress alleged that Jagan was arrested on May 27 only to prevent him from campaigning in the by-elections, which his party swept. The YSRC won 15 out of the 18 constituencies and one Lok Sabha seat. "We request you to order a probe by sitting judge of the Supreme Court and also CVC into the manner in which the CBI and its official are acting with ulterior motives against Jaganmohan Reddy and the vengeance with which it is being done," Vijayamma said in the memorandum. The delegation also complained to Singh that Jagan's life was under threat and necessary steps be taken in this regard.

Lenders may sell Vijay Mallya’s Goa villa: top 10 developments

The lenders of Kingfisher Airlines on Thursday appointed mortgage firm HDFC to re-value two of the airline’s properties. The consortium of lenders may decide on selling them to recover a part of their loans. The properties are the Kingfisher House in Vile Parle, Mumbai, and a villa in Goa. Read full story here. RELATED STORIES Kingfisher misses deadline for clearing dues, more accounts frozen Kingfisher Airlines' lenders may sell Vijay Mallya's Goa villa 5 biggest worries for Kingfisher Airlines Now, engineers quit crippled Kingfisher on non-payment of salaries 10 reasons why Kingfisher Airlines shares have hit record low Here are the top 10 developments: 1. The lenders of Kingfisher Airlines on Thursday said they may sell two properties—the Kingfisher House in Mumbai and the villa in Goa—to recover part of the loans. The airline, however, denied that the lenders had initiated any recovery proceedings, and said it had on its own approached the lenders to liquidate the property in Mumbai. 2. On 2 July, a debt fund managed by SREI Infrastructure Finance bought about Rs 400 crore worth of debt of Kingfisher Airlines from ICICI Bank. "There was an opportunity because of the various securities package and returns which were coming along with it, so based on that, the fund saw an opportunity," SREI's vice-chairman Sunil Kanoria said. 3. The airline confirmed last week that lessors had taken back a number of planes because the company had reportedly defaulted on lease rentals. The carrier, however, denied that the move was over a default in payments. "There have been no 'forced' returns of aircraft to lessors. We are currently in agreed payment terms to lessors. We have voluntarily returned aircraft surplus to our requirements," the spokesperson said. 4. Minister of state for finance S.S. Palanimanickam told the Lok Sabha in May that the airline owed Rs 269.06 crore in income tax. The carrier was found to have deducted tax at source (TDS) on salary payments but had not deposited it with the government, Mr. Palanimanickam said in a written reply. 5. In the same month, two real estate developers served eviction notices to the airline for allegedly defaulting on rent payments on a Mumbai property since November 2011. Airline sources confirmed the development. 6. The airline also owed about Rs 280 crore to the Airports Authority of India, civil aviation minister Ajit Singh said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha. The airline has been running on a cash-and-carry mode since then. 7. Star Investments, one of the shareholders of the airline, in April sold 38 lakh shares for over Rs 6 crore through an open market transaction. It sold shares at Rs 16.14 apiece, valuing the deal at Rs 6.13 crore, according to the data available with the stock exchanges. 8. Earlier in April, around 200 engineers of the carrier went on a tool-down strike in Mumbai protesting non-payment of dues. A tool down or pen down refers to a strike where workers report to the workplace but do not work. The strike was called off after assurances from Vijay Mallya that their concerns would be addressed. 9. A few days later, ICICI Bank brought down its stake in the airline from 5 per cent in the end of 2011 to 2.9 per cent. As per the shareholding pattern filed by Kingfisher with the stock exchanges, ICICI Bank held about 1.67 crore shares in the airline, accounting for a 2.9 per cent stake. 10. Kingfisher, which a year ago was India's No. 2 airline by domestic market share, is the biggest victim of turbulence in an aviation industry, where the six main carriers face a total debt load of $20 billion and $2 billion in annual losses. It is now the smallest carrier by market share in India. Kingfisher, which has slashed its schedule and is flying 16 planes, down from a peak of 64, has been late paying lenders, staff, and other bills. It last paid salaries for the month of January, a spokesman said.

A bank that helps protect the savings of street children

New Delhi: Ram Singh, 17, earns just one dollar from the 100 cups of tea he makes every day outside Delhi railway station, but each evening, after packing up, he goes to the bank and deposits nearly half of it. Singh holds an account at a special bank, run for - and mostly by - Indian street children, that keeps what little money they have safe and seeks to instill the idea that savings, however meagre, are important. Just one among millions of street children who rely on menial jobs for survival, Singh is determined to make his work pay some sort of future dividend. "I'm smart, but that alone isn't enough to start a business. "I save money everyday, hoping to start something of my own. Someday soon," he said as he served glasses of India's ubiquitous, spicy milk tea in sweltering heat at a stall near the teeming train station. The Children's Development Khazana (treasure chest) opened its first office in New Delhi 2001 and has since spread across the country and overseas with 300 affiliated branches in India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and Kyrgyzstan. Delhi counts 12 branches with around 1,000 child clients aged between nine and 17. The brightly painted metal cubicles which serve as teller counters are located in shelters that provide children with free meals and sleeping mats, as well as school classes. The branches are run almost entirely by and for the children, with account holders electing two volunteer managers from the group every six months. "Children who make money by begging or selling drugs are not allowed to open an account. This bank is only for children who believe in hard work," said Karan, a 14-year-old "manager". During the day, Karan earns a pittance washing up at wedding banquets or other events. In the evening, he sits at his desk to collect money from his friends, update their pass books and close the bank. "Some account holders want to withdraw their money. I ask them why and give it to them if other children approve. Everyone earns five per cent interest on their savings." An adult staff member is always present to collect the takings at the end of each day, depositing the cash in a nationalised bank to earn the interest component. Sharon Jacob, who works for the rights group Butterflies that set up the bank, said it aimed to give the children a genuine stake in their own future. "They work in shops as hawkers or porters but they never had a safe place to keep their money. They were always cheated of it or somebody also stole their money," Jacob said. "So this is a place where they could keep their money safely and they are also taught life skills, how to manage their finances. They are taught budgeting, they are taught democratic participation," Jacob said. Child labour is officially illegal in India but millions of boys and girls have no choice but to earn a living to support themselves or help their families. Many move to the cities from rural areas, seeking an escape from grinding poverty or abusive homes. "I ran away from home at the age of 11 after my father beat me for stealing a kitchen appliance," said Samir who works in a sweatshop. "For days I slept on a railway platform. I was beaten by the police and even harassed by the drug peddlers. I wanted to go back home but was ashamed of myself." Now 14, Samir lives in the children's shelter and holds an account in the bank. "I have saved 4,000 rupees (70 US$) in the last seven months. It's a good feeling to have some money. I will buy a shirt and a watch for my father and send it to him to seek his apology." "He might forgive me and ask me to be with him at home."

Waitress makes British Prime Minister David Cameron wait ten minutes for a coffee

London: "I am in the middle of serving somebody", a waitress at a British coffee shop told British Prime Minister David Cameron as she failed to recognise him and scolded him for jumping the queue. Mr Cameron had been on his way to the Armed Forces Day celebrations in Plymouth, when he decided to stop for a coffee. He stunned locals by strolling into the Sandwich Box Plus cafe. But Sheila Thomas, who was behind the counter, failed to recognise the Prime Minister and told him she was busy serving other customers. Also Read European Union leaders watch football during economic summit: report Sahara planning to build an Indian Centre in UK Also See 2:29 Will UK ban Facebook, Twitter? 16:53 UK riots: Can Cameron bring back order? After a ten-minute wait, Mr Cameron's aides popped in to Warrens bakery next door to see if they could get served any quicker, and picked up the premier a jam doughnut and a cup of tea. But when the Prime Minister stopped to enjoy his treat outside the shops, passers-by began to recognise him and he was soon back in the cafe chatting to members of the public, the Daily Mail reported. Ms Thomas was upset to see he had picked up his drink elsewhere and gave him another scolding. "I didn't realise it was him at first. I was in the middle of serving a customer so I was running around trying to do something and didn't take too much notice to be honest," she said. "He asked if we served takeaway coffee and I said, 'Yes but I'm in the middle of serving somebody' and he said, 'I'm so sorry'. It was only afterwards somebody told me it was the Prime Minister," said the waitress. "He came back afterwards and I told him off for not getting a coffee here. He shook hands and was very pleasant," she said. It's not the first time the Prime Minister has been made to wait for a hot drink by a busy waitress. Last summer, while on holiday with his family in Tuscany, Mr Cameron was forced to carry a tray of drinks to his table when the 27-year-old waitress told him she didn't have the time.

The God particle through a scientist's eyes

Dr Archana Sharma is the only Indian on the rolls of CERN. Since 1989 she has worked on instrumentation, detector design, also development, installation and commissioning of the CMS experiment. She is now back on the drawing board designing the detectors for the LHC (Large Hadron Collider which is a gigantic scientific instrument used as a particle accelerator) upgrades. Dr Archana Sharma spoke to NDTV's Noopur Tiwari. NDTV: Which other major discoveries can you compare this one to? Dr Archana Sharma: This discovery can be compared to ground breaking earlier discoveries such as the discovery of gravity, or relativity or quantum mechanics sitting on giant shoulders like those of Galileo, Newton and Einstein. It's a historic moment. Trying to understand and come to grips with what we'd seen and how it fits into our understanding of the universe until today. Also Read Top 8 facts about CERN Large Hadron Collider 'God particle' a gateway to new vision of universe Also See 47:26 The 9 O'clock News: The biggest stories 1:21 India's 'God Particle' connection: Archana Sharma, from Jhansi to Geneva NDTV: What is the Higgs Boson in a layperson terms? Dr Archana Sharma: The presence of which "affects" all other elementary particles in such a way that they acquire mass. Can be likened to a mega star - like Amitabh Bachchan Ji suddenly appearing in a stadium filled with fans, the one closest to him will get hyper excited and acquire most mass while the ones farthest from him certainly excited but will acquire less mass, so the distance from the 'star' will dictate the 'field of the star' and 'mass acquired' by the fan (particle). NDTV: Do people know/talk enough about 'Boson' being named after SN Bose or is he forgotten? Dr Archana Sharma: The name Boson says it all, it;s due to the Bose Einstein statistics that was formulated by the two great scientists NDTV: Why was it important to 'see' the Higgs Boson? Dr Archana Sharma: To culminate and complete the "Standard Model of particle physics" which lends explanation to all observed behaviour of particles, hence physical phenomena. This was the "largest" missing link, and not discovering it would mean that all our understanding of the standard model would fall apart. NDTV: It's bit confusing to hear that we've found "a" Higgs Boson and not "the" Higgs Boson. What does that mean? Dr Archana Sharma: It could be a family or these Bosons that we are looking for. We don't know where exactly in mass would that be so this is a first of a generation of a family that we have seen and observed now. It's very interesting to open a new door to a new era in physics. The standard model and the physics beyond predict the presence of several bosons. What has been observed is a particle which is compatible with one member of that family. The properties that allow it to be observed are its consistent mass and decay modes. NDTV: it's is difficult to say when any discovery is made as to what exactly will people be able to do with it in the years to come. Do you have an idea what you can do with this discovery? Dr Archana Sharma: The impact of basic research comes later naturally. What we are trying to do here is to try to go ahead with curiosities and with the research and development we want to do in the quest of the origin of the universe. In doing so we have facilitated technology development, industrial development, computing development. For example the internet was born here in CERN and that was precisely because of the need to share data to do these kind of searches. We don't know what will come in the decade to follow but we continue the quest NDTV: We know only 6% of universe. We know nothing about 94% of dark energy or dark matter. Will these findings lead to getting know more? Dr Archana Sharma: That's true what we understand about the universe the galaxies that are swirling around us is because of the forces that exist between them ..and when we calculate using the forces using the distances. We find that we can account only for 6% of them.. Now where is the rest of the missing mass the missing energy- the dark energy the dark matter as we call it? And in order to explain this missing mass there has to be some kind of particle, some kind of bosons perhaps- the Higgs bosons which could account for this missing mass. Now what we have evidenced today could indeed be in unlocking the door towards an understanding of this missing mass. And hence of a large part of the universe! NDTV: What is 5 sigma? What is the highest level of certainty? Dr Archana Sharma: Sigma is the decisive parameter of the Gaussian curve, a mathematical function that describes the distribution of data from many experiments. Citing a certain number of sigma directly translates into a probability. 1.5 sigma means just noise (background), but 3 sigma is equivalent to a 99.75 percent chance that a future experiment will yield a compatible result. So something interesting has been observed, Well, technically it's not a 99.7% chance that the result is correct, but a 99.7% chance that if they were to run the same experiment again (with the same instruments), they would get the same result. Physicists think that only a 5-sigma result, indicating a 99.99995 percent chance that the result can be reproduced, is trustworthy and can survive the test of time. A "5 significance" describes effects where the chance of random occurrence is smaller than a few parts in tens of millions, and is agreed to be enough to claim the discovery of a new particle or phenomenon. So basically - 1.5 sigma: noise (background). 3 sigma: Observation 5 sigma: Discovery NDTV: What made you 'leap' into quantum physics? Dr Archana Sharma: My teachers certainly at St. Francis Convent Jhansi, and then all my professors at the Physics Department BHU Varanasi who kindled the quest to look further into the heart of matter ... made me take the leap! NDTV: Is there room for more Indians at CERN? Dr Archana Sharma: Already the Indian visibility has gone much higher than yester years. The student population has multiplied ten-fold from 2001. Further collaboration possibilities are there and are being discussed with competent authorities, opening opportunities to particpate and contribute at the frontiers of science and technology. And, once India becomes an associate member, a door will open for more Indian participation NDTV: When the discovery was announced yesterday (the 4th of July) at CERN they said more time needed to go through data. How much of a chance that this data could reveal something dramatic? Dr Archana Sharma: Here at CERN we are saying that the next step will be to determine the precise nature of the particle and its significance for our understanding of the universe. Are its properties as expected for the long-sought Higgs boson, the final missing ingredient in the Standard Model of particle physics? Or is it something more exotic?

The armoured truck that followed Abu Jundal to court

Abu Jundal, the terrorist who played a key role in 26/11, was taken from a police station in Delhi to Safdarjung Hospital today, and then to court. The Delhi Police was granted custody of him for another 15 days. The terrorist, who is from Maharashtra and was based in a control room in Karachi during the 26/11 attacks, was transported in a Scorpio. The armoured truck shown here followed his car, just in case there was any attempt to attack or rescue him. The Mumbai Crime Branch asked for his custody; they want him to confront Ajmal Kasab, the lone terrorist caught alive in Munbai during 26/11, who is kept in a bulletproof cell at Mumbai's Arthur Road jail. The National Investigation Agency or NIA wanted him too so they could question him about the conspiracy behind 26/11. The Pune police want to interrogate him about his alleged link to the 2010 blast at the city's German Bakery in which 17 people died. A Delhi judge said they would have to wait their turn. Also Read 'Not 10, but 12 terrorists trained for 26/11 attack' Abu Jundal's new terror revelations on ISI and 26/11 Jundal has been sharing with interrogators details of ISI officers who he says supervised the control room in Karachi from where he along with five other handlers instructed the ten terrorists on the ground in Mumbai about how to strike.