THE ONLOOKER

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Hedge your investments

With spiraling oil price followed by inflation is taking toll not only on your monthly budget but on your investments and future investment options. In India the current inflation rate declared a week ago is around 11.05% . Mind you this is based on taking the price hike of few specific commodities, metal and oil prices (edible and fuel both). But the actual rate of inflation varies from city to city and depending upon quantum and type of individual consumption. The inflationary pressures are maximum on the labor forces of unorganized sector. Here in India they comprise 92% of total work force, they are deprived of the automatic adjustment of dearness allowance on the pay with the rate of inflation as available in organized sector. However, the mass in the lower rung of working class are not bothered about investment and portfolio management and safeguard their investments against inflation. It is only the people middle class whether professional, businessmen or service holders in orga

ANSWER FOR CANCER; A NEW HERBAL CURE

There are lots of debates on over the use of cell phone for years. There is some evidence available that it may cause brain cancer. Not only that, it affects that part of the brain which remains in the side the user usually hold the phone. Recently in Britain extensive research is undertaken to find the facts. It is likely to take few years, since the use of cell phone is hardly a decade old. The industries concerned, in the mean time, fearing any adverse report in the pipe line, are making the hay while sun shines. Cancer the dreaded disease is yet to find a remedy. The research is on all over the world, some breakthrough is made time to time but no proper cure is found yet. Like many inventions that took place, while searching for something else, such as x-ray; a wonder drug for cancer seems to have been found out in India. It is in the north-eastern part of India, in the province of Manipur, the scientists have identified finally and gave name of a plant, traditionally called `Kam-s

OIL TO SPOIL

The oil price rise is presumably out of fear of irregular supply from Nigeria, Venezuela and Middle East crisis in Asia. Beside this off course, the hands of middlemen and OPEC countries are conspicuous. In terms of extracting exorbitant price the OPEC countries are keeping crude oil production at low ebb. These countries have nothing except oil. Their fortune will dry up along with their oil wells; this they know well. So, they are all out making hay till the oil wells are dried up. That way you cannot blame them, their lack of concern for those who are going starve due to oil price hike and resulting chain reaction causing all around inflation, is historically usual. The rich countries like US, West European counties, in far eastern Asia like Japan are dolling out subsidies to absorb the shock for time being. But they too are feeling the tremors, keep afar the poor sub-Saharan countries, after all stark naked has nothing to lose! This meteoric rise of oil price, has chosen a time, wh

Reining Indian Inflation

A #1 English daily in India reads “ Govt adds fuel to ire” ; this is the reaction of yesterday`s Indian Govt. announcement of fuel price hike! Can any Govt. ever subsidize a product which has a ever increasing domestic consumption and 70% of the gross consumption is imported? Obviously the reply is no. So, like any other Govt. the Indian Govt. is left with no choice but to hike the price of fuel. The price of fuel in India is still controlled by Govt. In fact in the days of globalization, how long that can be continued is anyone`s guess. Here any unpopulist action taken by Govt., is encashed by the political parties, those who are not in power and aspiring for it. “The public opinion is humbug” –as the old adage goes. In the state of West Bengal (during colonialisation this state became the first to come in touch of West ironically!) called for a “bandh”, paralyzing the life for two days. As in twoconsecutive days, two different political parties call given call for “total strike”; wha

RISING FUEL PRICE RAISING INDIAN SOFTWARE INDUSTRIES PROSPECTS

Indian sunrise sector, IT industry was reeling under pressure to keep its profit margin throughout the last year. The reason was Indian Rupee was gaining strength against Dollars. Results, the imports became cheaper and exports were less remunerative. This is obvious every time Rupee appreciates in terms of Dollars. Dollars being till date the major currency for international trade, the fluctuation of exchange rate affects the profit margin of any industry that either import raw materials, capital goods, labor or anything and so with the industry that exports similar goods or service. Major IT companies like Infosys, TCS, Wipro, Satyam and all other that sell their products or services, suffered loss in comparison to their profit margin for previous couple of years. Their share price shot up and market capitalization grew to a level, never seen ever, it touched its zenith in late 2007. The prolonged euphoria lasted so longer than expected in Indian stock market is truly nerve wrecking

UN`s Economic forcasts

The world economy is “ teetering on the brink” of a severe downturn that is how it is observed by UN in their mid-year economic projection. The global economy is expected to grow only 1.8% in 2008 as against 3.8% in 2007. This downturn is likely to continue with only little respite in 2009 with 2.1% growth, as the UN report said. The developing countries are likely to suffer badly, since they would grow at the rate of 5% this year and 4.8% next year, compared to a growth rate of 7.3% last year i.e 2007. UN economists observe that credit crisis deepening due to US led housing price slump, weakening of dollars, oil price sky rocketing and commodity price following the trail, are causing major imbalance in global economy. Thus it is impeding the growth all around the world. However, the UN report said the final figure will largely depend on developments in the US. Even the global growth may fall to 0.8% if the US sub-prime mortgage market turmoil has a more serious impact on developing c

Dollars losing its sheen

I still remember the name of an old movie “For a few Dollars more”, because of it`s title music. For years it lingered in my years. Perhaps the movie was made in early 70s, when gulf crisis and Breton Wood formula both emerged, to stay till to-day. The gulf crisis pushed the petrol price higher than ever imaginable and the fixed currency exchange rate, what was is vogue, switched to market driven force to determine the exchange rate of all the currencies. Off course the Soviet Bloc excluded them to be penalized later. It is all history now. However, for the second half of the last century, after the world war, dollar gradually reached to a height what can be called a safe heaven. The US economy, the Federal Bank`s apt guidance and the unmatchable technological innovation in US helped the dollar to its current position. The new mantra, consumerism, what US economy has been advocating and what rest of the world is following till now , appears to be at stake. The dollar waning sheen is

Bio-Fuel : Palm Oil

The overwhelming enthusiasm for bio-fuel to counter the demand of fossil fuel and use something environment friendly, is not all that going well. Last month British Prime Minister Mr Gordon Brown changed the rule that in UK 2.55 % bio-fuel to be sold in Britain for petrol and diesel. There is a report the Greenpeace activists staged a protest dressing orangutans to protect the tropical rain forests and drying out the peat lands in Malaysia. Where to augment the cultivation of palm oil the rain forests are being devastated. As per Greenpeace this harming the environment by releasing carbon dioxide. Palm oil was introduced in Malaysia in 1910 by a Scotsman. This oil even few years ago use to be major edible oil specially for the poor, it was very cheap in comparison to other edible oils. It is also used to make soap and finally found fit for biofuel. As it promised a clean , green and alternative to petrol. This caused a price hike to near about 70% over the last year. The price hike

INFLATION AND PRICE

The whole sale price index in India has increased by 7.4% or exceeded it within a very short span of time. What does it mean? Is it due to inflation or there is something else. The price of rice, wheat, edible oil , vegetables, chicken , mutton besides steel and cement have touched the sky. Rein the spiraling price seems difficult for the government. Though some measures like hiking the cash reserve ratio that means withdrawing the liquid funds from the market through banking system by central bank at the behest of the government is being taken. How far they are going to check the price rise? Or allowing imports of essential commodities like edible oil, banning export of rice to check the short fall; are certain to bring some cooling effect in the market. But it is not likely to take back the price as were a before six months ago. Let us consider these facts. The price rise of food stuffs is currently plaguing the world. The Wall Mart in US , for the first time rationing the sale of ri

The American recession

The global slowdown in economical progression is understood to have been caused by American recession. Well, most of developing countries on this planet depend much on American economy. After all America is the biggest importer of goods and service. What caused American recession is a matter of great debate these days. Recently I found some interesting reports hitting the headlines of some leading dailies. While surfing the net I stumbled across a site worldpress.com where renowned economist Prieu Du Pleissis blamed four factors for this development. They sound the same what most of the experts diagnosed. First of all , the slowdown in US economy though drawing attention in recent months but it started in no less than six years ago. The wages in US is traditionally high. There a taxi driver earns about $250 per day. Where as in India they earn in terms of USD about $5-6 only! Here is the key for the reason why US heavily has to depend on outsourcing. To remain competitive, most of the

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A true story

Here goes a story which has reference to Indian history during Mughal dynasty. Note, "Kulcha" .. is a hand made loaf, baked in manner to last for days and used to have tasty condiments within its thick and soft platter. This is not exactly a "funny" story. Nevertheless, it makes interesting reading because of a possible supernatural element in it. Perhaps this could be categorised under, "strange facts", but I am posting it here instead of starting a different thread for that. Before going out on an expedition to the Deccan, Mir Qamaruddin Khan, (a subehdar under Aurangzeb), visited the the sufi saint Nizam-ud-din Aulia to seek his blessings. The saint gave him "kulchas" to eat, and carry with him on his long journey to the south. When the subehdar was leaving Delhi, Hazrat Nizam-ud-din asked him whether he had eaten any of the kulchas given to him. Qamaruddin replied that he had in fact eaten seven of them and packed the rest for the journey. Pl

Think how it started

It was the accepted practice in Babylon 4,000 years ago that for a month after the wedding, the bride's father would supply his son-in-law with all the mead he could drink. Mead is a honey beer and because their calendar was lunar based, this period was called the honey month, which we know today as the honeymoon. What a downer!!!! It was not at all about ummm u know what! It was all about the booze!!!

Chanakya's Quotes - Worth Learning

************ ********* ********* ********* ********* *** "A person should not be too honest. Straight trees are cut first and Honest people are screwed first." Chanakya quotes (Indian politician, strategist and writer, 350 BC 75 BC) ************ ********* ********* ********* ********* *** "Even if a snake is not poisonous, it should pretend to be venomous." Chanakya quotes (Indian politician, strategist and writer, 350 BC-275 BC) ************ ********* ********* ********* ********* *** "The biggest guru-mantra is: Never share your secrets with anybody. If you cannot keep secret with you , do not expect that other will keep it. ! It will destroy you." Chanakya quotes (Indian politician, strategist and writer, 350 BC-275 BC) ************ ********* ********* ********* ********* *** "There is some self-interest behind every friendship. There is no Friendship without self-interests. This is a bitter truth." Chanakya quotes (Indian politician, strategi

A JOKE FROM MY COLLECTIONS

A little boy was doing his math homework. He said to himself, 'Two plus five, the son of a bitch is seven. Three plus six, the son of a bitch is nine...' His mother heard what he was saying and gasped, 'What are you doing?' The little boy answered, 'I'm doing my math homework, Mom.' 'And this is how your teacher taught you to do it?' the mother asked. 'Yes,' he answered. Infuriated, the mother asked the teacher the next day, 'What are you teaching my son in math?' The teacher replied, 'Right now, we are learning addition.' The mother asked, 'And are you teaching them to say two plus two, the Son Of a bitch is four?' After the teacher stopped laughing, she answered, 'What I taught them Was, two plus two, THE SUM OF WHICH, is four.

My collected joke

A little girl asked her mother, "How did the human race come about?" The mother answered, "God made Adam and Eve and they had children and so all mankind was made." Two days later she asks her father the same question. The father answered, "Many years ago there were monkeys, and we developed from them." The confused girl returns to her mother and says: "Mom, how is it possible that you told me that the human race was created by God and Papa says we developed from monkeys?" The mother answers, "Well dear, it is very simple. I told you about the origin of my side of the family, and your father told you about his side."

The World Economy

Yesterday the oil price in the New York crude market touched all time high i.e $120 per barrel ! Though it came down by few cents within hours , but it is alarming. Following the cue the London crude price also spiraled high. Obviously the high crude price is going make you and me pay through our nose even for buying essentials. They blame OPEC, being inflexible to increase the production, the Nigerian crisis, the Iranian imbroglio and the devastated Iraq. Besides , there is no dearth of speculators to fish in troubled water, who are speculating on oil and making a hay day for themselves. These all are things to be contemplated and discussed by the national leaders and economic thinkers, but how about the common men? Who will be their messiah to save them? Is there any answer?

Give a new name

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is soliciting the member of public to suggest a name for their newly invented telescope. Currently they call it Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (Glast), it is supposed to be launched in mid 2008. Nasa seems to have realized that the acronym-derived name is not most compelling. The offer is open till 31 st Mar 2008. If you are clicking with a ideal name then visit http://glast.sonoma.edu/glast-name and with the name give a statement of 25 words or less why your suggested name suits its` mission. “ We`re looking for name suggestions that will capture the excitement of the Glast mission and call attention to gamma-ray and high –energy astronomy. We are looking for something memorable to commemorate this spectacular new astronomy mission” – says Alan Stern, Associate Administrator for Science at Nasa headquarters in Washington and continues “ We hope someone will come up with a name that is catchy, easy to say and will hel

the deep reminiscent

Every year during the Dushera, Durga Puja , we all from Chittaranjan remember the old place and it`s humble way of celebrations

DURGA PUJA IN BENGAL

Dushera is the Hindu festival is celebrated all over India, in Bengal and among Bengalees elsewhere it is celebrated with the worshiping of Goddess Durga. Here are some images of the deity and spirit of celebrations.