Govt drops plan to tax PF withdrawals - Source - TOI

In a major relief to the middle class, the government on Tuesday proposed to drop its earlier suggestions of taxing withdrawals from provident funds, pension funds and pure life insurance schemes and of imposing tax on retirement and in-service perks given by employers.

DTC[Direct Tax Code] Gets Less Taxing

Change: Provident fund, pension funds, life insurance to continue under EEE (exemptexempt-exempt) system instead of EET (exempt-exempt-taxation)
Implication: Withdrawals from these schemes will remain tax-exempt as at present. Earlier draft of Direct Tax Code (DTC) had proposed to tax them
C: Interest payments on home loans up to Rs 1.5 lakh per annum to be tax-exempt for self-occupied homes
I: Concession that earlier draft had proposed to remove will continue to be available
C: Long-term capital gains to be imposed on graded basis
I: Currently, zero tax on such gains. Earlier draft had proposed to add the gains fully to income. Revisions means only a part of the gains will be added, depending on how long the asset has been held
C: Employer’s contribution to retirement benefits to be tax-exempt
I: Earlier draft would have added these as perks to your income and hence raised tax liability. That won’t happen now
C: MAT to be on book profits
I: Earlier draft proposed minimum alternate tax (MAT) on basis of company’s gross assets, meaning even loss-making firms may have had to pay the tax. That won’t happen now.

More information @ http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Govt-drops-plan-to-tax-PF-pension-funds-withdrawals/articleshow/6052092.cms

Source - TOI

TN explores 'dual degree in 3 yrs' for Arts & Science courses - Source TOI

TN govt set up a committee to look the feasibility of dual degree in undergraduate courses in ARTS & Science colleges.

*** Students may get two degrees in three years by simultaneously pursuing dual undergraduate courses in arts and science colleges.
*** The concept would not only enhance their employability potential but also widen the choice for postgraduate education.
*** A five-member high level panel of academics has been constituted to study in-depth the concept.

More info on http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/TN-explores-dual-degree-in-3-yrs-concept/articleshow/6048733.cms

Source - Times of India

ECR & Mahabhalipuram

Went to following places in ECR and Mahabhalipuram yesterday with parents and relatives.
1) Prathyangira Devi Temple, Shollinganallur:
Details @ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sholinganallur_Prathyangira_Devi_Temple,

2) DakshinaChitra - http://www.dakshinachitra.net/
Ticket cost was Rs.75 per person, but it was worth giving. This contains cultural things [be it old houses, crafts] related to South India. We can get down @ MGM Dizzee world Bus stop and DakshinaChitra is 300 metres away from there.

3) Muttukadu Boat House

4) Kovalam Beach

5) Mahabhalipuram - Sea shore temple, Scluptures made of single stone like five rathas, elephant, etc.

Only thing which was not good was the weather. Day before yesterday the weather was good but yesterday it was too hot that roaming around these places was difficult one.

Bhopal Gas Tragedy Verdict

Climate in Chennai for the past one week is pretty good. Its been cloudy and raining. Request Varuna Bhagavan to be there for few more days in Chennai:-). And verdict in Bhopal tragedy is shocking. Just 2 years of imprisonment for killing more than 20000 people and making above 6 lakhs [still counting - the aftermath of effect is still there] people life miserable wasn't really an appreciable verdict. These kind of incidents make me feel if there is really a person called God. But on the other hand, my mind is telling "If you believe in something, believe truly". That tend me to believe God is there. I truly believe in Him. I do hope maximum punishment to those involved in the tragedy will happen soon. Hoping for a better future.

Puzzle Corner

2010-06-12
When 2^301 is divided by 5, the least positive remainder is ......
1. 4
2. 8
3. 2
4. 6

2010-06-10
The equation X-[2/(X-1)] = 1-[2/(X-1)] has
1. no roots
2. one root
3. two equal roots
4. infinite roots

2010-06-09
If (1+3+5+...+p)+(1+3+5+...+q) = (1+3+5+...+r), where each set of parentheses contains the sum of consecutive odd integers as shown, what is the smallest possible value of (p+q+r), where p>6?
(a) 12
(b) 21
(c) 45
(d) 54

Paa - Seen on Star Gold

Got a chance to see 'Paa' movie on Star Gold. Eventhough not able to see the whole movie because of power cut, I enjoyed the portions seen. It is about a rare genetic disease 'Progeria' and father - son relationship. Amitabh plays the kid with Progeria and Abhishek his father. Vidya Balan as mother of Amitabh. Story is all about how Amitabh unites Vidya and Abhishek together as they got separated as Abhishek wanted her to have an abortion when they first found out she was pregnant. After uniting them, at 13th birthday Amitabh dies due to Progeria.

I dont know Hindi, but I quiet enjoyed the movie because a meaningful cinema doesnt need language to understand. Its all about human emotions.

Music by Ilayaraja and he had remixed 2 of his earlier songs. Director of Photography is P C Sriram.

You can see more details about the movie at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paa_(film)

Singam - Want to see one more time

Here I come with "Singam" Review. I watched the movie @ Bangalore in a local theatre. Though the film was commercial masala flick, I enjoyed it. Its been long since I had seen a Tamil movie [for that case a movie in theater].

Now, coming to Singam, cast includes Surya, Anushka, Prakashraj, Vivek, Radha Ravi, Sumithra, Nasser, Vijayakumar, Manorama, Bose Venkat & others. Except for Surya & Prakashraj, no other roles are well crafted eventhough other supporting cast just supports the story. Even Surya and PrakashRaj's roles are having only shades of normal Tamil Hero and Villain, but it is that both of them pull off their roles very well.

I dont want to go much into Story. Its a normal hero and villain story and finally good wins over the bad. But the screenplay makes it watchable. Director Hari is known for his commercial flicks like Sami, Aaru, Vel, Kovil, etc. where the story wont be much new but screenplay does the trick. Ofcourse, there are logical loopholes in Singam but you cant see logics in a masala movie.

There is a ensemble cast as I already mentioned and their screen presence does help the film and screen presence is complete.

Vivek does a comic relief and few scenes of him come out really well.

Music is by Devi Sri Prasad and most of the songs are fine. Especially the melodious 'En Idhayam', rocking 'Stole my heart' and 'Kadhal Vandhale' [which starts with Everybody listen samba pamba rumba thumba].

Action sequences were more heroic [nothing can be expected because its a commercial movie]

I dont have much knowledge on other departments of the film like Cinematography, editing, etc.

As always, heroines doesnt have a role in these kind of movies. What surprised me was "Bose Venkat" who is well known for his acting, does nothing or not having substantial role here.

Singam was released by BIG Pictures and Sun Pictures.

Having said all this, I am eager to watch the movie once again.

Went to few temples last week

I went to Sripuram Golden Temple [near Vellore], Kanipakkam and Srikalahasti [both near Tirupati - After a long time I am into AP :)].

Sripuram is famous for its golden temple. God here is Narayani. God @ Kanipakkam is Vinayaka or Pillaiyar. Srikalahasti's God is Sivan and Parvathi.

More info about those temples can be found @ www.sripuram.org, http://www.kanipakamvinayaka.org/, http://www.srikalahasti.org/

Data Structure Questions

1) What is the data structures used to perform recursion?

2) List out the areas in which data structures are applied extensively?

3) StackLinkedList class inherits the LinkedList class. Is it True?

4) Name two desirable properties of hashing functions.

5) Linked list C++ application is organized into three files.They are _____, ______ and _____

6) What is the minimum no.of queues required to implement heap sort? Explain.

7) The depth of a tree is the _______ of a tree

Violation of Norms

Yesterday when I was travelling in MTC bus from Velachery to Medavakkam, few college students [not really sure which college they belong to] got into bus @ Vijayanagar junction. They were standing on the steps [as most youngsters do] and start hitting the inner roof along with a song. It was really irritating for the passengers but no one turned out to tell them to stop. I being one among feeling guilty [Eventhough I feel some authoritative power should be there, I also has to accept the fact that its every citizen's responsibility to fight to get their rights]. Bus Driver told them to stop twice but none of the college guys listened. He stopped the bus at Madipakkam signal and went for calling Traffic inspector. As always, before the Traffic police came students went on to catch the next bus.

And they again got into the bus when the bus neared Narayanapuram stop. This time again they started doing the same and were challenging driver that no traffic police will come for the rescue.

I wonder who had given right to them to enjoy at the cost other's precious time. Who had given such over courage not follow norms when one should follow it in public. Main victims are Bus drivers and passengers.

I would suggest bus drivers should be given a toll free number of the traffic police with which they can contact and take immediate action.

Good news for Salary and savings account holders

Banks to calculate interest rates on a daily basis for savings and salary accounts:

Salary and savings account holders could witness their interest income rise by 25 per cent under the new daily average method proposed by the Reserve Bank of India for computation of interest on savings accounts, according to rating agency Crisil.

New RBI rule:
According to the new RBI rule from April 1, banks will compute the annual 3.5 per cent interest rate on savings accounts on a daily basis instead of taking the lowest deposit during a month.

Crisil said the new method of interest computation will increase the effective interest rate on savings balances, particularly for salary account holders. “It is estimated that for a salary account holder with a minimum savings balance between 1-2 times of the monthly salary, the increase in interest income will be between 10 and 25 per cent,'' it said.

More news on this can be found @ "http://beta.thehindu.com/business/Industry/article388638.ece"

Content Copyright: - The Hindu

Request you people to put in your valuable comments on the topics posted in this blog.

Thought of Sharing

After I came to Chennai which was about 1 years 3 months back in Dec'08, I used to hear Aahaa FM's Aahaa Kaapy Klub [A programme hosted by Singer Chinmayi which concentrates on public issues]. I could say the programme is one of its kind which actually takes public issues into concern and records the voice of people on those issues.

Now I couldn't see any programme which fully concentrates on public issues. [Eventhough there are few programmes in which they discuss public issues, they are part of 3 hr or 2 hr programme itself]. Media [be it Movies, Magazines, TV Channels, FM's] has a major impact [atleast in the states of TamilNadu and Andhra & Maharashtra where the film industry is very much worshipped] on the society and it's the responsibility of media persons to make programmes which are really concerned about the social and public issues. Sadly, most of the media doesn't do that.

Hope to see a better future where more media organizations plays a major role in resolving the social and public matters.

You can go through Chinmayi's Blog which is "http://chinmayisripada.blogspot.com/". Nice to read posts over here.

Legends S.Janaki & P.Susheela on Airtel Super Singer Junior

Airtel Super Singer Junior will see a host of legends this week including S.Janaki and P.Susheela.

Dont miss it.

Happy viewing :-)

Road to Good Cinema - Title Copyright - The Hindu

The most recently released 'Angadi Theru' is gaining accolades from all quarters of society. It is both commercially successful and critically acclaimed by reviewers. The story is about the workers in Ranganathan Street [a location in Chennai which is very famous for having many commercial establishments] in TNagar.

Reviews says that the movie had taken Thamizh Cinema to international standard. The kind of movies, experimentation that is happening in Kollywood is not currently happening any other southern film industries [Tollywood, Mollywood and Sandalwood] and even in Bollywood.

After UNNAI POL ORUVAN [my first movie @ Mayajaal], I had not seen any good movie in Tamil [even though few movies came]. I am very much eager to see this one [Angadi Theru] especially because of reviews by magazines and TV.

Happy to see that Tamil Cinema is going international. Will come back with the movie review after watching.

Vijay TV's new line of Movies on Sundays

Vijay TV started telecasting small budget Tamil films which got recently released and done either average or poorly at box office on Sundays [Normally at these times the channel previously used to show dubbed English movies]. It started with the romantic comedy 'Thiru Thiru Thuru Thuru', followed by 'Kathai' [Psycho-thriller], 'Pugaipadam' [subject based on college life] and 'Renigunta'.

Yesterday only I had an opportunity to watch these new line of movies and it was 'Renigunta' which was shown yesterday. Eventhough the movie was not up to the mark because of more violence, it does have its moments. Problem is with the screenplay which doesn't engage you with the storyline as it goes.

Anyways I am happy that at least Vijay TV had started telecasting small budget films which has more value than that of Superhero films.

Observing Earth Hour at your city on: 27th March 2010, 8:30 PM – 9:30 PM Local Time

On Earth Hour this year, over a billion people from over 90 countries and 900 cities around the world will come together to call for action on climate change by doing something quite simple-turning off their lights for one hour. You can join in too!
All we have to do is ‘switch off’ the lights for just one hour on 27th March, 2010 between 8:30 PM and 9:30 PM local time to join this global movement. By doing so, we send a clear message that we are together in our fight to ensure a cleaner and more secure future for our planet.

Pledge to save the Earth. Sign up at www.earthhour.in and participate in Earth Hour 2010.

Coins - Unknown Facts

Indian Coins are mainly produced in 4 cities.
Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata & Hyderabad.

The production in each city puts an identification mark under the year of issue.
Delhi - a Dot (.)
Mumbai - a Diamond
Hyderabad - a Star(*)
Kolkata - Have no Mark under the year of issue.

Commonly used words in English

Based on the combined results of British English, American English and Australian English surveys of contemporary sources in English: newspapers, magazines, books, TV, radio and real life conversations - the language as it is written and spoken today.

Below is the list of Top 10 commonly used words:
Rank Word
1 the
2 of
3 to
4 and
5 a
6 in
7 is
8 it
9 you
10 that

You can refer to the website 'http://www.world-english.org/english500.htm' for the top 500 commonly used words.

How to Run a Meeting Like Google

No one wastes time searching for a purpose at Marissa Mayer's meetings—even five-minute gatherings must have a clear agenda

Meetings get a bad rap in business today and for good reason—very little gets accomplished in them. I can recall a Dilbert cartoon in which several people sat around a table while the meeting organizer said, "There is no specific agenda for this meeting. As usual, we'll just make unrelated emotional statements about things which bother us…"

That pretty much sums it up. The majority of meetings are unstructured, uninspiring, and unproductive. But they don't have to be that way.

When I decided to write a column about running effective meetings, I turned to a leader who holds more than anyone I know and who actually credits her meeting structure for leading to some of the most innovative advances in technology today: Marissa Mayer, Google's vice-president of search products (see BusinessWeek.com, 6/19/06, "Marissa Mayer: The Talent Scout").

Mayer holds an average of 70 meetings a week and serves as the last stop before engineers and project managers get the opportunity to pitch their ideas to Google's co-founders, Sergey Brin and Larry Page. Eight teams consisting of directors, managers, and engineers—all at various stages of product development—answer to Mayer.

In a shop like Google (GOOG), much of the work takes place in meetings, and her goal is to make sure teams have a firm mandate, strategic direction, and actionable information, while making participants feel motivated and respected. Mayer's six keys to running successful meetings follow:

1. Set a firm agenda.
Mayer requests a meeting agenda ahead of time that outlines what the participants want to discuss and the best way of using the allotted time. Agendas need to have flexibility, of course, but Mayer finds that agendas act as tools that force individuals to think about what they want to accomplish in meetings. It helps all those involved to focus on what they are really trying to achieve and how best to reach that goal.

2. Assign a note-taker.
A Google meeting features a lot of displays. On one wall, a projector displays the presentation, while right next to it, another projector shows the transcription of the meeting. (Yet another displays a 4-foot image of a ticking stopwatch.) Google executives are big believers in capturing an official set of notes, so inaccuracies and inconsistencies can be caught immediately.

Those who missed the meetings receive a copy of the notes. When people are trying to remember what decisions were made, in what direction the team is going, and what actions need to be taken, they can simply review the notes.

3. Carve out micro-meetings.
Mayer sets aside large blocks of time that she slices into smaller, self-contained gatherings on a particular subject or project. For example, during her weekly two-hour confab with the co-founders and CEO Eric Schmidt, she sets aside five- to 10-minute segments—or longer, depending on the subject—devoted to such specific areas as weekly reports on how the site is performing, new product launches, etc.

This method offers enough flexibility to modify the agenda just before the meeting, should anything pressing occur. It also instills discipline that keeps the meeting tightly focused. Mayer does the same with members of her teams who might need only five or 10 minutes of her time instead of 30 minutes—the shortest block of time her calendar permits. By setting aside micro-meetings within a larger block of time, she accomplishes more.

Mayer, who has a background in engineering and computer science, jokingly refers to micro-meetings as "reducing latency in the pipeline." That means if she has an employee with an issue that comes up Tuesday, he or she can schedule a 10-minute micro-meeting during Mayer's large time block, instead of waiting for her next 30-minute opening, which might not be available for two weeks.

4. Hold office hours.
Mayer brought this idea from her experience teaching computer science at Stanford, where she first met the two guys who would go on to revolutionize how the world gets its information. Beginning at 4 p.m., for 90 minutes a day, Mayer holds office hours.

Employees add their name to a board outside her office, and she sees them on a first-come, first-serve basis. Sometimes project managers need approval on a marketing campaign; sometimes staffers want a few minutes to pitch a design (see BusinessWeek.com, 6/30/06, "Inside Google's New-Product Process").

Says Mayer: "Many of our most technologically interesting products have shown up during office hours. Google News, Orkut [Google's social networking site], Google Reviews, and Google Desktop all showed up first in office hours." During office hours, Mayer can get through up to 15 meetings, averaging seven minutes per person.

5. Discourage politics, use data.
One of Mayer's "Nine Notions of Innovation" is "Don't politic, use data" (see BusinessWeek.com, 6/19/06, "9 Notions of Innovation").

This idea can and should apply to meetings in organizations in which people feel as though the boss will give the green light to a design created by the person he or she likes the best, showing favoritism for the individual instead of the idea.

Mayer believes this mindset can demoralize employees, so she goes out of her way to make the approval process a science. Google chooses designs on a clearly defined set of metrics and how well they perform against those metrics. Designs are chosen based on merit and evidence, not personal relationships.

Mayer discourages using the phrase "I like" in design meetings, such as "I like the way the screen looks." Instead, she encourages such comments as "The experimentation on the site shows that his design performed 10% better." This works for Google, because it builds a culture driven by customer feedback data, not the internal politics that pervade so many of today's corporations.

6. Stick to the clock.
To add a little pressure to keep meetings focused, Google gatherings often feature a giant timer on the wall, counting down the minutes left for a particular meeting or topic. It's literally a downloadable timer that runs off a computer and is projected 4 feet tall.

Imagine how chaotic it must look to outsiders when the wall shows several displays at once—the presentation, transcription, and a mega-timer! And yet, at Google, it makes sense, imposing structure amidst creative chaos. The timer exerts a subtle pressure to keep meetings running on schedule.

Mayer does have one caveat when it comes to the timer—maintain a healthy sense of humor about it. (The timer was counting down to the end of my interview with Mayer—but she turned it into a fun and friendly reminder instead of an abrupt end to our discussion.)

Please keep in mind that these meeting techniques work well for Google. They may or may not be appropriate for your place of business. But these six keys should give you some new ideas about how to transform your meetings from a waste of time to time well spent.

Source: www.businessweek.com.

International Day of People with Disabilities - Today

December 3rd is International Day of People with Disabilities. Proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly, this day aims to promote an understanding of disability issues, the rights of persons with disabilities and integration of persons with disabilities in every aspect like political, social, economic and cultural life of their communities.