Behas baatchit ya faisla..... - Page 2

The 6.1 magnitude quake that struck at 3.36 a.m. was felt across a broad swath of central Italy, including the capital Rome.
At least 38 people were killed in a strong earthquake that struck central Italy early Wednesday, levelling buildings in several towns as residents slept. One Mayor reported that a family of four was trapped under the debris without any sign of life and another said, "The town isn't here anymore."
Many are still missing as people are buried under rubble.
The 6.1 magnitude quake that struck at 3.36 a.m. was felt across a broad swath of central Italy, including the capital Rome, where residents felt a long swaying followed by aftershocks. First images of damage showed debris in the street and some collapsed buildings in towns and villages that dot much of the Umbrian countryside.
The hardest-hit towns were reported as Amatrice and Accumoli near Rieti, with residents running into the streets as aftershocks continued into the early hours. As daylight dawned, residents and civil protection workers began digging out with shovels and bulldozers as dazed residents huddled in the open streets.

Isro still mum on MOM data, Nasa says not much water in Mars' dark streaks

Chethan Kumar| TNN | Aug 24, 2016, 09.32 PM ISTRepresentative image.

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RBI says large firms have to pay more for bank loans, starting FY18
Banks will now be required to set aside higher provisions and assign higher risk weights for loans to large companies beyond a certain limit

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Vishwanath Nair
RBI is trying to curb the banking sector's exposure to large corporate entities. Photo: Reuters
RBI is trying to curb the banking sector's exposure to large corporate entities. Photo: Reuters
Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has proposed a major overhaul in the way large companies borrow. In separate decisions announced on Thursday, the central bank made it costlier for large companies to borrow more than a certain amount from banks even as it took steps to increase liquidity and participation in the corporate bond market. It also proposes to reduce the cap on bank exposure to large corporate entities.

Starting next financial year, large Indian companies will have to pay more for borrowing from banks"part of an effort by the central bank to curb lenders' exposure to stressed corporate entities. Large companies accounted for 58% of total bank credit of Rs.65.47 trillion at the end of March.

According to guidelines that RBI released on Thursday, banks will have to set aside higher provisions and assign higher risk weights for loans (essentially set aside higher capital) to large companies beyond a certain limit.

Here's how the guideline, which closely follows a discussion paper released in May, will work.

RBI intends to create a special class of large borrowers called "specified borrowers". A specified borrower is defined as one that has aggregate fund-based credit limits (ASCL)"or total fund-based exposure of the banking system"of Rs.25,000 crore at the end of this financial year. This limit will progressively reduce to Rs.15,000 crore in 2018-19 and Rs.10,000 crore from the start of fiscal 2020.

RBI proposes to create a normally permitted lending limit (NPLL), which is defined as 50% of the incremental funds raised by the borrower over and above the ASCL from the date it becomes a specified borrower.

For loans over the NPLL, banks will need to set aside an additional 3% provision. They will also have to assign additional risk weights as high as 75%. This additional risk weight will also be distributed in proportion to the individual bank's funded exposure.

Essentially, this means that banks will set aside more capital to lend to these borrowers, which in turn may increase the cost of funds for the companies.

The implications of these proposals could be widespread, given that a number of companies have debt larger than Rs.25,000 crore. Firms such as Bharti Airtel Ltd, which had debt of Rs.95,043 crore at the end of March, Reliance Communications Ltd (Rs.33,886 crore), Tata Steel Ltd (Rs.83,804 crore) and JSW Steel Ltd (Rs.35,171 crore) might end up being classified as specified borrowers and may have to pay a premium for further bank funding.

It wasn't immediately clear how much of the outstanding debt of these large companies was funded by banks.

Adding another feather to its cap, Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro), on Sunday, successfully tested two indigenous scramjet engines at the the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh at around 6.00 am. The on-flight test of the two air-breathing engines was conducted successfully with Isro's Advanced Technology Vehicle (ATV), which is an advanced sounding rocket.
The rocket weighed 3,277 kg during lift-off.
According to an Isro official, "The scramjet engines were ignited 55 seconds into the rocket's flight. The engines were tested for six seconds." But what is it about the scramjet that makes it stand apart from other rocket engines, already a part of Isro's fleet? Cutting through the technical jargon, here's all you need to know about Isros latest feat.
Scientists say that the scramjet technology effectively cuts down the cost of launching rockets by reducing its weight by more than half, according to
The Times of India . Oxygen is as essential for the process of combustion as it is for sustenance of life. Therefore a rocket, during its launch, needs to combine a combustion fuel with liquid oxygen to create the thrust needed for the take-off and flight. However, if the need for liquid oxygen is taken away, the space craft can be much lighter, hence cheaper to launch. The technology also has the potential to be adapted to commercial planes and it can substantially reduce the travelling time as well.
This is what essentially SCRAMJET or Super Sonic combustion Ramjet achieves, by reducing the amount of oxidiser to be carried along with the fuel. While conventional rocket engines need to carry both fuel and oxidiser on board for combustion to produce thrust, air-breathing rocket systems on the other hand uses the atmospheric oxygen from their surroundings and burn it with the stored on- board fuel. Scramjet engines obtain oxygen from the atmosphere by compressing the incoming air before combustion at hypersonic speed. It uses hydrogen as fuel and the oxygen from the atmospheric air as the oxidiser. When the rocket reaches a height of 11 km, the scramjet engines would start breathing air directly from the atmosphere, therefore the spacecraft can be smaller or carry more payloads, making it a commercially viable option. According to The Times of India report Isro's main concern was igniting the air-breathing engine in the air and then sustaining the flame at supersonic speed. "If the engine can sustain it for five seconds, then it can last for even 1000 seconds," an Isro official told The Times of India.
The engines were successfully tested for six seconds on Sunday. The test flight was the maiden short duration experimental test of Isro's scramjet engine with a hypersonic flight at 6 Mach.
The engine when fully developed, will eventually be used in Reusable Launch Vehicles or RLV's.
According to Isro, some of the technological challenges handled by Isro during the development of scramjet engine include the design and development of hypersonic engine air intake, the supersonic combustor, development of materials withstanding very high temperatures, computational tools to simulate hypersonic flow, ensuring performance and operability of the engine across a wide range of flight speeds, proper thermal management and ground testing of the engines.
"India is the fourth country to demonstrate the flight testing of scramjet engine. The successful technology demonstration of air-breathing scramjet engines in flight by Isro is a modest yet important milestone in its endeavour to design and develop advanced air breathing engines including engines for Isro's future space transportation system," the space agency added.
According to the Isro website , the current space transportation systems are expendable in nature and use the conventional chemical rocket systems for their propulsion, which makes it a cost-heavy exercise (in the range of $12,000 to $15,000 per kg). However, cutting down on the need to accommodate liquid oxygen in the spacecraft will bring down the costs heavily. However, the scramjet engines can be used only during the atmospheric phase of the rocket's flight (when atmospheric oxygen is available for use). So, the technology needs to be combined with the conventional chemical rockets, for meeting the final orbital velocity requirements.
According to a report by NDTV ,
the scramjet will bring down the launch cost of weather satellite INSAT-3DR which is a high-end weather forecast system designed for enhanced meteorological observations and disaster warning. The satellite scheduled to be launched in August earlier, but it has been postponed to September.
With inputs from IANS

KL Rahul, Evin Lewis make huge gains in latest ICC T20 rankings
Evin Lewis and KL Rahul have made huge gains in the ICC players rankings for T20I batsmen after slamming fine centuries in the two-match series.
Rival openers Evin Lewis of the West Indies and India's Lokesh Rahul have made huge gains in the latest ICC players rankings for T20I batsmen after slamming fine centuries in the recent two-match series in Lauderhill, USA, played on 27 and 28 August.
The first match, in which a T20I record aggregate of 489 runs were scored, saw Lewis slam a 49-ball 100 in the West Indies' total of 245 for six that has helped him move up 288 slots to reach 51st rank. Rahul's unbeaten 110 in India's reply of 244 for four has given a lift of 67 places which has put him in 31st place.
The West Indies, which won the series 1-0 with the thrilling one-run win in the first match, not only saw some of its batsmen improve their rankings significantly but the team has also narrowed the gap with India in the ICC T20I team rankings.
Two-time ICC World Twenty20 champion West Indies, which was six points behind second-placed India's 128 points before the series, is now just one point adrift at 125 with India on 126. New Zealand leads the table with 132 points.
India's Rohit Sharma has moved up five places to reach 17th place following knocks of 62 and 10 not out, while Johnson Charles of the West Indies has vaulted 26 places to a career-best 23rd following innings of 79 and 43.
In the ICC player rankings for T20I bowlers, India's Ravichandran Ashwin returned to the top five as he moved from seventh to fourth position. The off-spinner, who enjoyed a career-high rank of second in February and March this year, grabbed two for 11 in the second match.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar (67th) and Mohammad Shami (82nd) were the others to move up the bowlers' rankings for India. Leg-spinner Amit Mishra, playing his first match since the ICC World Twenty20 in 2014, has re-entered the rankings at 104th position with three for 24 in the second match.

Singur Verdict: Land to be returned but farmers can retain compensation amount

TNN | Sep 1, 2016, 05.29 AM IST

Heavy rain lashes Delhi, Gurgaon Police issue advisory
Gulam Jeelani and Sandip Bardhan, Hindustan Times, Gurgaon/New Delhi| Updated: Aug 31, 2016 11:30 IST

As the skies become dark and rains lash Gurgaon on Wednesday morning, vehicles keep their headlights on. (Photo: Twitter)

This copy has been updated. To read the updates, CLICKHERE

Fresh spells of rain lashed Delhi-NCR on Wednesday morning, causing worry among office-goers two days after heavy showers and waterlogging made commute a nightmare in the Capital .

The weather department forecast light showers for Wednesday, but it was dark and gloomy at 9am. The downpour coupled with strong winds and lightning left travellers stranded at Metro stations and bus stops.

Reliance Jio 4G tariffs and services: This telecom war will benefit the customer for sure
Reliance Jio 4G launch: Mukesh Ambani gave the power back to the people by announcing no more charges for roaming or any domestic calls and messages

India just received what can be considered a "best of both the worlds" in the form of Mukesh Ambani's announcement of free calls and texts over the JIO network and the elimination of any roaming fee. This model has been prevalent in the United States and has worked beautifully for its consumers, the only downside being the exorbitant rentals. Reliance Jio customers get benefits of no roaming charges, free night-time data and even free calls and messages all day long, but with the rock bottom prices that the country has never seen before.
All current mobile operators offer convoluted tariffs on calls and messaging, with various segments such as within the same network, from the subscriber's network to any other cellular network and then from subscriber's network to landline. Messaging tariffs have also three segments and factor in roaming and you'll be completely clueless on how much are you actually paying. For the last few years, many of us have left our billing to the mercy of the carriers, blindly trusting them to charge us what is right.
Today, Mukesh Ambani gave the power back to the people by announcing no more charges for roaming or any domestic calls and messages. Subscribe to any one of the various seven plans ranging from Rs 149 to Rs. 4999 and you reap the benefits of the cheapest
4G -LTE data rates the world has ever seen, but also do not have to deal with the hassle of wondering if you are going to be charged anything extra just because you left your circle. The plans are of course subject to applicable taxes, but it would come as a comfort to millions of users to know that they won't be overcharged or be in a situation where they've run out of data and their carrier is going to fleece them just for another extra gigabyte. Gone are the days of paying extra for using your phone in another city.
We live in times when people prefer Skype or Facetime over calls and messaging on Facebook or Whatsapp over the traditional SMS, Reliance has made an incredibly smart move to ration the power of its telecom network. While the urban and heavy users with the latest smartphones would gradually start moving to video calling apps (for their immersive experience and no cost), this would leave a good chunk of the network's capacity to handle actual voice and SMS data which can be expected from those who are still using the traditional means. A person who does not have a 4G phone can buy the Reliance JioFi and get access to the entire host of services offered by the network through various apps.
Reliance's move to cut the price of 4G-LTE services to a tenth of prevailing rates has definitely ruffled feathers amongst other operators. With free calls and messages, things are bound to heat up as the consumer always wants to spend as little as possible and get as much as he can for it. With Airtel, Vodafone and Idea, the three leading telecom operators, charging users for everything and still giving what can be considered mediocre (at best) service, the announcement is going to either drive everyone's tariffs down into the ground or it will push the existing operators to seriously beef up the quality of their service. At the end of the day, it is a much needed win-win for the consumer who had been getting jack-hammered by the telecom operators who had been charging us plenty of money for poor service.
First Published on: September 1, 2016 12:53 pm
The Indian Express Online Media Pvt Ltd

Ravichandran Ashwin drops to third, Ajinkya Rahane remains eighth in latest ICC Test rankings
Dubai: Off-spinner R Ashwin dropped a rung to 3rd but remained the highest-placed Indian bowler, while Ajinkya Rahane remained static at 8th in the batsmen's list of the latest ICC Test rankings issued on Wednesday.
Rahane was the lone Indian in the top-10 of batting charts but among the bowlers, Ravindra Jadeja was there at 8th to give Ashwin company in the top-10.
South Africa pace bowler Dale Steyn stormed back to the number-one position rankings for Test bowlers after producing a match-winning performance in the Centurion Test that helped his side complete a 204-run victory over New Zealand.
Steyn, who grabbed five for 33 in the second innings in what was his 26th five-wicket haul, finished with match figures of eight for 99 to regain the top slot, the ICC said in a statement.
After reclaiming the No.1 ranking in February 2014 against Australia at Centurion, the 33-year-old had enjoyed the top spot until a shoulder injury in the Durban Test against England in December 2015 limited his bowling.
Ashwin took advantage of Steyn's absence and backed up by some strong individual performances, finished the year as the top-ranked bowler.
Steyn has leapfrogged Ashwin and top-ranked England pace bowler James Anderson to take the top slot, which he first occupied jointly with retired Sri Lanka off-spinner Muttiah Muralidaran in April 2008.
Steyn has now been number-one for a record 263 Tests with Muralidaran coming second in the list at 214 weeks. In terms of days, Steyn has spent 2,320 days at the top, the most by any bowler since World War II.
In the rankings for Test Batsmen, South Africa captain Faf du Plessis's unbeaten century in the first innings contributed in him moving up the ladder.
Du Plessis scored 112 not out and six in his two innings and has moved up nine places from 33rd to 24th rank.
Wicketkeeper-batsman Quinton de Kock, who was adjudged player of the match for his knocks of 82 and 50 as well as six dismissals behind the wickets, have seen him move up 18 slots to 32nd rank.
Meanwhile, the 1-0 series win has pushed South Africa up two places to fifth in the Team Rankings, while New Zealand have slipped two places to seventh. India stand 2nd in the list behind Pakistan