chakravarthy

Are banks meant for robbing? This could well be true given the number of daylight robberies by well-heeled customers like diamantaire Nirav Modi and Winsome Diamonds' Jain Mehta (Rs. 7,000-crore fraud), pen-maker Kotahris of Kanpur (Rs. 2,919-crore scam) and the Harshad Mehtas before them. The Rs. 9.5 lakh crore non-performing assets banks are saddled with is also plain loot, largely by big borrowers. The government's chief economic adviser, Arvind Subramanian, than what is known so far, and recognised and has suggested more banks whould be privatised. While the buck for the Rs. 11,300-crore PNB scam stops at the door of the Reserve Bank's banking supervision wing, it's curious the government that has called for an explanation from the RBI on the PNB scam. The bank's board, after all, has representatives from both the RBI and the government under the Banking Regulation Act. What were these people doing as they were privy to the foreign exchange deals reported to t...

Scientists have grown human egg cells to full maturity in the lab in a potential break-through for fertility treatment, they announced in a study published on Friday. Researchers in New York and Edinburgh developed a new method to grow eggs from very early-stage cells obtained from ovary tissue, a team reported in the journal Molecular Human Reproduction . The eggs were grown to the point at which they could be fertilised. This had previously been achieved with mouse egg cells, while human eggs had been successfully cultivated starting from a much later stage of development. "The latest study is the first time a human egg has been developed in the lab from its earliest stage to full majority", said a statement from the University of Edinburgh. Experts who did not take part in the research hailed the achievement as promising, but stressed it would take years to translate into a safe and proven therapy. The technique holds promise specifically for women who have to go throu...

B. Janardhan Reddy, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation Commissioner said the civic body will observe Valentine's Day as 'garbage divorce day'. Starting 14th February, 2018, GHMC will aim for 100% waste segregation in Hyderabad. "We will aim at achieving 100% segregation of garbage in the city. Currently, going by our data, GHMC is successfully able to segregate 80-90% of the waste collected from the households across the city", said Reddy. He also said that the civic body has tried reaching out to 11 lakh households through bulk SMS in creating awareness about the 'garbage divorce day'.  "Through bulk messages we aim to sensitize public about the importance of the day and seek their support in making our effort successful by segregating more and more dry and wet waste at source", he added. Additionally, mass awareness programmes will be held involving citizens. Swachh Doots (emissaries) will promote source-level segregation of waste....

The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) might be relying on various initiatives and awareness campaigns to promote complete waste segregation in the city, but it seems like they are losing the battle against the issue. For instance, GHMC's ambitious two-bin waste segregation drive-launched over two years ago - has done little to change the situation. The GHMC, under the Waste Management initiative had distributed 44 lakh 12-litre garbage bins - blue and green - too 22 lakh house-holds and introduced 2,000 auto tippers in 2015 to encourage door-to-door collection of segregated waste. But segregation at source is yet to be adopted by majority of city folks. While residents blamed the absence of monitoring by officials, experts claimed lack of knowledge and awareness among citizens. "The two-bins were distributed but the garbage segregation was not successful in several localities. The initiative bore results where it had volunteers to inspect its implementation. I...

At a time when he is grieving the loss of his father, an army officer, who died in the Sunjawan terror attack in Jammu, a young army cadet Ankush Choudhary in Secunderabad has now become even more strong-willed in his decision to fight for the country. The attack claimed the life of Lt. Madan Lal Choudhary, along with five other army-men. Lt. Madan Lal Choudhary's son Ankush Chaudhury, who is a cadet at the Military College of Electronics and Mechanical Engineering (MCEME), Secunderabad, has now become more resolved to serve the nation. Fearless and more motivated than before. Ankush is grieved but not shaken by his father's demise. "Right now, I am consoling my mother and sister who are also strong-willed", 19-year-old Ankush Chaudhury told TOI from Jammu. Lt. Chaudhary, 50, prevented terrorists from entering his quarter and in the process sacrificed his life to save his family from terrorists. His sister Neha is learnt to have suffered a bullet injury. The famil...

Skin creams containing paraffin have been linked to at least 37 fire deaths across England since 2010, the BBC has reported. Regulators in the UK said the products - used to treat skin conditions such as eczema and psoriasis - can leave people at risk of setting themselves ablaze. The BBC gave out an example of a man who died in 2006 after accidentally setting himself on fire when sparks from his cigarette made contact with emollient cream on his skin. Philip Hoe, who was suffering from psoriasis, was engulfed in flames within seconds covered with 90% burns. "When we got there, the staff came to me and told us he was", Hoe's wife Carol was quoted as saying in the report. According to the BBC, experts have been warning people about the risks for the past 10 years and a related investigation recently found that at least 37 deaths were linked to skin creams catching fire. Medical watchdogs in the UK had said skin creams containing paraffin were dangerous if used in large...

[ Based on an article written by Narendra Nathan published in The Times of India dated 09th October, 2017 (Monday) ]. When the market is doing fine, some fund managers take extra risk to boost returns, and this includes balanced fund managers as well. As the stock market fell continuously for seven trading days, these balanced funds managers have been caught out. Though the benchmark index Nifty fell 3.13%, several 'safer' balanced fund investors got a rude shock, as their schemes crashed far more. Why balanced funds crashed ? - "Investors opt for balanced funds because they don't want high risk. But in the race to generate returns, unfortunately, some of them don't remain balanced funds", says Tanvir Alam, Founder and CEO, Fincart. Manoj  Nagpal, CEO, Outlook Asia Capital concurs, "Balanced funds have increased their aggressiveness and most of them have allocated close to 75% to equity". Even within equities, balanced funds have opted for the ...