As a miracle of Google’s master mind products, an awefully miniatured car is likely to be on roads within a short time. The work on the project is almost complete with final testings going on. This is not enough to call this car just as an automatic one as this shall be of the type where there is no need of any driver. Sans any driver this shall also be a car with no steering, no break and no accelerator, instead the car will have only an on and off switch to start the journey and stop wherever the owner so wants. Two seater, this miracle car is prescribed a 40 km an hour speed to start with limiting it to a barest minimum from security point of view. The prototype is likely to assume a full fledged functional shape with its availability on roads shortly to begin with in certain selected countries. A dream coming true like this is an amazement with thrills for every one. Thanks to Google.
Saturday, 31 May 2014
Dream wheels on the road:
Thursday, 29 May 2014
Is it that Modi impact has disappeared from the share market?
After struggling much between marginal plus and minus yesterday the Indian share market closed at Nifty 11.65 and Sensex 6.58 points. Overall it was an awkward volatile movement without consistently settling any where. Right from the days Narendra Modi’s election campaign gained a momentum there was a deep impact of it on the stock market and it continued moving very much in a well settled manner without undue fluctuations but the trend reversed after Modi was declared elected as the Prime Minister of India. The trend was at its worst when he was sworn in along with his ministerial team. To some extent it could be attributed to a usual sort of imbalance in buying and selling of shares disproportionately but it looks surprising why the market failed to settle some where continuously for days together. It may well lead to the conclusion that Modi’s impact on the market dwindled badly for the reasons not quite explicit. If profit booking at a large scale was the reason it was not to last for days together say beyond a day or two. Possibly it was a chance for the share market that coincided with Modi’s upper hand in elections and not any impact of his as such.
Tuesday, 27 May 2014
What is it that determines stock market trends?
Stock market is well known for its tendency to fluctuate abnormally the main reason of which is the factor of ‘self fulfilling’. I was reading Swaminathan S.Anklesaria Aiyer’s column in Times of India the other day where he elaborated the way the cycle of ‘self fulfilling’ acts. To quote him, it runs like this:
“If enough people think land and stock prices are going to rise and all of them start buying, the price of land stock will indeed shoot up. If all businessmen fear a recession and stop investing, that itself will cause a recession”.
Exactly this very cycle is called ‘self fulfilling’ and is in many ways responsible for large scale fluctuations not only in the stock market alone but equally the other markets where the theory of demand and supply plays a vital role. Now that the new government in India led by Narendra Modi as the Prime Minister is fully in the saddle and investors in the share market are jubilant with the thought that the index will continue rising much beyond where it stands on date tempting them to indulge in large scale buying but this very action definitely has the tendency to go in the reverse direction having a likelihood of recession taking place with a deep fall in the market as a whole. Better it is for the investors to keep this factor in their mind before trading.
Sunday, 25 May 2014
Plastic currency
“Ensuring trust and confidence in money is at the heart of what central banks do,” Mark Carney, the governor of the Bank of England, said in a statement. “Polymer notes are the next step in the evolution of banknote design to meet that objective. The quality of polymer notes is higher, they are more secure from counterfeiting and they can be produced at lower cost to the taxpayer and the environment.” India too is making a necessary headway to shortly introduce plastic currency in the country falling in line with the countries which have already switched over to this mode of currency which involves lesser cost and is user friendly in the sense that the wear and tear is negligible. Earlier in India those who had money in terms of gold coins or later in silver coins enjoyed keeping them in a cotton tube around their waist all the time feeling proud of them but that possibility may lack now as the plastic currency can at the best be kept in a wallet and not in a cotton tube or bag.
Friday, 23 May 2014
A limit to nonsense:
He lost miserably and had to bite the dust in the recent elections. Frustrated and disillusioned, Mulayam Singh Yadava is all out to satisfy his vengeance against his supporters and also the voters. A big chunk of his coterie is heavily sacked many of them losing their ministerial berths in the cabinet of Uttar Pradesh Government. Voters too are a big target for their audacity not to support Samajwadi Party in the elections. There is heavy cut in supply of electricity in Kanpur (U.P.) and the adjoining areas and, as the people in general are talking, it is only at the behest of Mulayam Singh Yadava’s Chief Minister son Akhilesh Yadav to teach a lesson to the voters not casting their votes in favour of his party. It is a sheer display of most non sensical an activity. Such sort of ill treatment being meted out to the people is not happening for the first time as it had several precedents in the past. The following link can well be referred to in the matter: Wednesday, 21 May 2014
Share market sans volatility or over fluctuations:
Fluctuations in any share market all over the world are the basic characteristic of it but when they go hyper there is a crash in the market constraining the traders to go berserk which in turn drags it to volatility for want of requisite transactions in the needed direction. It is after a long time that the market is behaving in a normal manner, of course as Modi impact, where it has neither over fluctuations nor is subjected to volatility –changes both upward and downward are normally in a predictable range restoring the much required normalcy with transactional performance being smooth and boundary bound. A trend like this speaks of stability in the deals which traders find quite feasible. The rupee dollar ratio which constantly dwindled downward earlier for a long time before it somewhat settled at 62-63 rupee ratio as against dollar is now in the range of 58-59 with a tilt to touch 57. Restrained fluctuations with a controlled volatility coupled with a normalised rupee-dollar ratio are all the indications of a well settled market movement getting followed by a sound stability. All taken together, the market scenario is all set to a sound proposition bestowing avenues to the traders for better transactional deals well settled and well meant. Thanks to Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister designate of the country, for restoring the much needed stability to the stock market.
Monday, 19 May 2014
If this could be an indication?
Proposed increase in railway fare by 10% with effect from the 20th May is reported to be deferred till the new government in India takes over under the Prime Ministership of Narendra Modi. The people in general take it as an indication to undo the increase or partly reduce it to suit the pocket of the passengers. If this be so, it is certainly a move in right direction in the interest of the rail traffic. Narendra Modi is supposed to take oath as the next Prime Minister of India on the 21st May. There is already another initiative taken by the Prime Minister designate to see that a dairy project by Amul of Gujarat estimated to cost 200 crores of rupees starts at Varanasi. These two small instances of measures obviously at the instance of Modi are quite indicative of the positively practical steps in the direction of peoples interest and fully speak of the style of working on his part even before he takes over fully and finally. Let us wish that guess on the part of the public is correct.
Saturday, 17 May 2014
Metro trains in Kanpur and Lucknow:
How thrilling an experience it would be if metro trains start plying in cities like Lucknow and Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh (India). Lucknow is the political capital of Uttar Pradesh and Kanpur is its industrial capital and both of them count much so far as the tourist attraction for them is concerned. A little time back when I was in New Delhi trying to make my way through the huge traffic jam to reach the railway station what occurred to my mind was as to how worse could have been the scenario there if there was no Metro. Look at it from any angle –business, office, market, school and colleges, access to airport, shopping, tourism and above all safety, Metro net work in New Delhi is a boon for the people there but for which theirs could have been a life in the hell as it is presently in Lucknow and in much bigger a proportion at Kanpur where one has to tread inch by inch as in no direction you can move without being stranded for hours together at one point and if some how you manage your way at a particular spot there is the other one waiting for you to entrap you in the jam for another few more hours. Thinking of any positive developmental activities sounds utopian in such a state of affairs. We like several others look forward to the new government that is in the saddle now to extend their helping hand in expediting the Metro projects which are till now only in the stage of infancy at both the cities. Let us cherish our dreams to see them materialise tangibly in days to come and feel a soothing thrill on the very thought of having Metro trains in these two cities. Our dreams, let us wish to ourselves, come true shortly.
Thursday, 15 May 2014
Those who can’t help themselves?
Those who can’t help themselves are the ones whom none else can help for the simple reason that they don’t deserve it. There are instances when you come across the persons whom you want to help but they are not at all receptive it. Initiative on the part of the givers is meaningless if the takers lack it miserably. Why it happens like this? What an individual has to have is a sort of an inbuilt allotment to him by Nature or say destiny in a remote sense and his thought process works accordingly. Strike when the iron is hot is the saying but there could be a person just striking the iron without applying his mind that for the requisite outcome this has to be hot in which case there is nothing to blame the iron but the concerned man himself for not appropriately applying his common sense. A confused mind normally doesn’t land any where; if he allows his confusion to have a precedence over a conscious approach it is he himself to be blamed and not the other exterior channels. If one is conscious enough to pursue his goal with the required amount of conviction, he is sure to succeed as against those who just lack necessary initiative in the matter.
Tuesday, 13 May 2014
Bribery–a compulsory evil in India:
There are many a departments in India where bribery is a compulsory ritual and nothing moves unless consumers grease their palms with money, worst of them being electricity companies, both in private and public sector, and one of them on the top is KESCO (Kanpur Electricity Supply Company) behaving as broad day robbers. They harass the consumers to the extent that ultimately they are left with no alternative but to relent paying them the amount of bribe so asked for. They have hired gangs to locate the potential victims on some flimsy ground or the other on whose clue the KESCO staff raid the houses so identified, on false grounds in most of the cases. When they come across an opportunity to raid a house they enjoy it like any thing jubilantly moving forward as if they are going on a picnic trip. If the electricity consumer is honest enough not to pay them a penny even as bribe, he is in for a great trouble. They discourage payment of electricity bills in a mode other than cash as it makes underhand dealings more feasible. Rarest of an exception is online payment through credit cards but their site remains most often as inoperable. They also charge much extra in such payments as against the normal practice of discounts on online payments. If the consumer concerned is prepared to grease their palms to their satisfaction, he has no problems to face; if not, it is hell of a torture to him. Corruption in India is so deep rooted that survival of an honest person is immensely impossible. Every thing is easy if dishonest means are resorted to. New government is likely to come up in the mid of this month after elections are over and the people of the country may have to wait for a situation whether it improves on corruption front or worsens further.
Sunday, 11 May 2014
Share market–most suspenseful days ahead:
Saturday, 10 May 2014
Monica Lewinsky–Why should she put her life on hold?
“Should I put my life on hold for another eight to ten years” says Monica Lewinsky with reference to the affair between her and the then American President Bill Clinton. She also says that she now feels “compelled to emerge from the shadows”. Now that Mrs. Clinton, Hillary Rodham Clinton, is most likely to be a contestant for election of American President due shortly, Monica Lewinsky has apprehensions that her past affair might be used as some political tool during the campaign for the purpose. She kept her silence till such time President Clinton’s term as President was over, she says, but she doesn’t find it feasible to keep her silence any more waiting for Hillary Clinton’s term getting over in the event of her victory in the election. As it appears from the brief expressions so made by her, she finds it suffocating to remain docile and silent on her past life and that she would like to come out obviously baring the facts in relation to her past life and impliedly her affair with the then President Bill Clinton. American culture as against India normally doesn’t take exception of love affairs in one’s life but since this one involves a great celebrity it may matter much with a focus.
Thursday, 8 May 2014
Which caste Modi belongs to?
Nothing ends up any where in India without some talks on caste and so is the latest with reference to Narendra Modi, the Prime Ministerial candidate as from BJP. He replied to Priyanka Gandhi’s remark that Modi was using his caste factor just for electoral gains. He said that one should criticise him and not his caste. Mayawati too was the one not lagging behind in daring him on caste factor demanding that he should reveal his real identity –whether he is Naai, Pal, Kushwaha,Rajbhar, Lonia or he is not an OBC at all. Why all this? Is it that even after nearly seven decades of freedom there many Indians like Mayawati and Priyanka Gandhi who are still chasing the ghost of caste politics? This is highly unfortunate. Modi is an Indian and he deserves to be recognized and respected as such irrespective of any caste or creed.