Abdul Kalam is India's 'most trusted' person

Former President APJ Abdul Kalam is India's 'most trusted' person, followed by industrialist Ratan Tata and former police officer Kiran Bedi.

An online survey to identity the 100 most trusted Indians - conducted for Reader's Digest by market research group The Digital Edge - has thrown up quite a few surprises. The survey, which will be published in the latest issue of the magazine, had sought responses on celebrities from different fields.

Infosys co-founder Narayan Murthy is placed fourth while music composer A R Rahman is next, followed by chess champion Vishwanathan Anand.

PM Manomhan Singh ranks only seventh on the list while cricketer Sachin Tendulkar and cartoonist R. K. Laxman have bagged the eighth and ninth positions.

The tenth rank is shared by ISRO chairman G. Madhavan Nair, economist Amartya Sen and Wipro chief Azim Premji.

Unique Identity Authority of India chairman Nandan Nilekani, actor Amitabh Bachchan and ArcelorMittal chairman Lakshmi Mittal also figure in the top 15.

Social activists Prakash and Mandakini Amte and Anna Hazare share the 20th position. Tabla maestro Zakir Hussain is placed 16th while cardiologist Devi Shetty is ranked next.

Rahul Gandhi is 29th on the list. Sonia Gandhi is in the 72nd position while BJP leader L K Advani is placed 94th.

The survey invited 5,000 people, but a target of 761 people from more than 30 Indian cities, who responded first, were included in the poll.

The survey also solicited responses on the 40 most trusted professions where teachers enjoyed a clear lead. Firefighters were second and farmers third. Politicians were ranked 40th while journalists were a little better at the 30th place.

NASA radar on Chandrayaan-I detects ice deposits on moon

Washington, Mar 2 (PTI) Scientists have detected more than 40 ice-filled craters in the moon's North Pole using data from a NASA radar that flew aboard India's Chandrayaan-I.

NASA's Mini-SAR instrument, lightweight, synthetic aperture radar, found more than 40 small craters with water ice. The craters range in size from 2 to 15 km in diameter.

The finding would give future missions a new target to further explore and exploit, a NASA statement said, adding it is estimated that there could be at least 600 million metric tons of water ice in the craters.
"The emerging picture from the multiple measurements and resulting data of the instruments on lunar missions indicates that water creation, migration, deposition and retention are occurring on the moon," Paul Spudis, principal investigator of the Mini-SAR experiment at the Lunar and Planetary Institute, said yesterday.

70 of the Records Held by Sachin Tendulkar

1. Highest Run scorer in the ODI
2. Most number of hundreds in the ODI 41
3. Most number of nineties in the ODI
4. Most number of man of the matches(56) in the ODI's
5. Most number of man of the series(14) in ODI's
6. Best average for man of the matches in ODI's
7. First Cricketer to pass 10000 run in the ODI
8. First Cricketer to pass 15000 run in the ODI
9. He is the highest run scorer in the world cup (1,796 at an average of 59.87 as on 20 March 2007)
10. Most number of the man of the matches in the world cup
11. Most number of runs 1996 world cup 523 runs in the 1996 Cricket World Cup at an average of 87.16
12. Most number of runs in the 2003 world cup 673 runs in 2003 Cricket World Cup, highest by any player in a single Cricket World Cup
13. He was Player of the World Cup Tournament in the 2003 Cricket World Cup.
14. Most number of Fifties in ODI's 87
15. Appeared in Most Number of ODI's 407
16. He is the only player to be in top 10 ICC ranking for 10 years.
17. Most number of 100's in test's 39.
18. He is one of the three batsmen to surpass 11,000 runs in Test cricket, and the first Indian to do so
19. He is thus far the only cricketer to receive the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, India's highest sporting honor
20. In 2003, Wisden rated Tendulkar as d No. 1 and Richards at No. 2 in all time Greatest ODI player
21. In 2002, Wisden rated him as the second greatest Test batsman after Sir Donald Bradman.
22. he was involved in unbroken 664-run partnership in a Harris Shield game in 1988 with friend and team mate Vinod Kambli,
23. Tendulkar is the only player to score a century in all three of his Ranji Trophy, Duleep Trophy and Irani Trophy debuts
24. In 1992, at the age of 19, Tendulkar became the first overseas born player to represent Yorkshire
25. Tendulkar has been granted the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, Arjuna Award and Padma Shri by Indian government. He is the only Indian cricketer to get all of them.
26. Tendulkar has scored over 1000 runs in a calendar year in ODI's 7 times
27. Tendulkar has scored 1894 runs in calendar year in ODI's most by any batsman
28. He is the highest earning cricketer in the world
29. He has the least percentage of the man of the matches awards won when team looses a match. Out of his 56 man of the match awards only 5 times India has lost.
30. Tendulkar most number man of match awards(10) against Australia
31. In August of 2003, Sachin Tendulkar was voted as the "Greatest Sportsman" of the country in the sport personalities category in the Best of India poll conducted by Zee News.
32. In November 2006, Time magazine named Tendulkar as one of the Asian Heroes.
33. In December 2006, he was named "Sports person of the Year
34. The current India Poised campaign run by The Times of India has nominated him as the Face of New India next to the likes of Amartya Sen and Mahatma Gandhi among others.
35. Tendulkar was the first batsman in history to score over 50 centuries in international cricket
36. Tendulkar was the first batsman in history to score over 75 centuries in international cricket:79 centuries
37. Has the most overall runs in cricket, (ODIs+Tests+Twenty20s), as of 30 June 2007 he had accumulated almost 26,000 runs overall.
38. Is second on the most number of runs in test cricket just after Brian Lara
39. Sachin Tendulkar with Sourav Ganguly hold the world record for the maximum number of runs scored by the opening partnership. They have put together 6,271 runs in 128 matches
40. The 20 century partnerships for opening pair with Sourav Ganguly is a world record
41. Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid hold the world record for the highest partnership in ODI matches when they scored 331 runs against New Zealand in 1999
42. Sachin Tendulkar has been involved in six 200 run partnerships in ODI matches - a record that he shares with Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid
43. Most Centuries in a calendar year: 9 ODI centuries in 1998
44. Only player to have over 100 innings of 50+ runs (41 Centuries and 87 Fifties)(as of 18th Nov, 2007)
45. the only player ever to cross the 13,000-14,000 and 15,000 run marks IN ODI.
46. Highest individual score among Indian batsmen (186* against New Zealand at Hyderabad in 1999).
47. The score of 186* is listed the fifth highest score recorded in ODI matches
48. Tendulkar has scored over 1000 ODI runs against all major Cricketing nations.
49. Sachin was the fastest to reach 10,000 runs taking 259 innings and has the highest batting average among batsmen with over 10,000 ODI runs
50. Most number of Stadium Appearances: 90 different Grounds
51. Consecutive ODI Appearances: 185
52. On his debut, Sachin Tendulkar was the second youngest debutant in the world
53. When Tendulkar scored his maiden century in 1990, he was the second youngest to score a century
54. Tendulkar's record of five test centuries before he turned 20 is a current world record
55. Tendulkar holds the current record (217 against NZ in 1999/00 Season) for the highest score in Test cricket by an Indian when captaining the side
56. Tendulkar has scored centuries against all test playing nations.[7] He was the third batman to achieve the distinction after Steve Waugh and Gary Kirsten
57. Tendulkar has 4 seasons in test cricket with 1000 or more runs - 2002 (1392 runs), 1999 (1088 runs), 2001 (1003 runs) and 1997 (1000 runs).[6] Gavaskar is the only other Indian with four seasons of 1000+ runs
58. He is second most number of seasons with over 1000 runs in world.
59. On 3 January 2007 Sachin Tendulkar (5751) edged past Brian Lara's (5736) world record of runs scored in Tests away from home
60. Tendulkar and Brian Lara are the fastest to score 10,000 runs in Test cricket history. Both of them achieved this in 195 innings
61. Second Indian after Sunil Gavaskar to make over 10,000 runs in Test matches
62. Became the first Indian to surpass the 11,000 Test run mark and the third International player behind Allan Border and Brian Lara.
63. Tendulkar is fourth on the list of players with most Test caps. Steve Waugh (168 Tests), Allan Border (158 Tests), Shane Warne (145 Tests) have appeared in more games than Tendulkar
64. Tendulkar has played the most number of Test Matches(144) for India (Kapil Dev is second with 131 Test appearances).
65. First to 25,000 international runs
66. Tendulkar's 25,016 runs in international cricket include 14,537 runs in ODI's, 10,469 Tests runs and 10 runs in the lone Twenty20 that India has played.
67. On December 10, 2005, Tendulkar made his 35th century in Tests at Delhi against Sri Lanka. He surpassed Sunil Gavaskar's record of 34 centuries to become the man with the most number of hundreds in Test cricket.
68. Tendulkar is the only player who has 150 wkts and more than 15000 runs in ODI
69. Tendulkar is the only player who has 40 wkts and more than 11000 runs in Tests
70. Only batsman to have 100 hundreds in the first class cricket

'Unless I have 4% agri growth, GDP growth of 9% will not be possible'

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee speaks to MK Venu on the general philosophy behind the budget

What is the general philosophy behind this Budget?

First, I had indicated in my Budget speech last year that I would like to come back to the path of fiscal consolidation as soon as the process of recovery starts. We injected Rs 1,86,000 crore through three stimulus packages last year. The issue was how quickly we can come back to the path of fiscal consolidation. Then the CSO's projections of 7.2% growth for the year 2009-10 and the indication in the first two quarters growth of 6.1% and 7.9%, respectively clearly show that it is possible to enter into a higher growth trajectory.

These two were the objectives, in addition to the UPA government's article of faith: inclusive growth. I had to address the problems of the vulnerable sections of society. And then, unless I have 4% growth in agriculture on a sustainable basis over the medium term at least, it would not be possible to have 9% GDP growth. Keeping these objectives in mind, out of the Rs 3,73,000-crore Plan allocation, more than Rs 1,37,000 crore has been invested in the social sectors. Nearly 46% of the total Plan allocations are for infrastructure, 25% of which is for rural infrastructure.

Here is the strategy I have adopted: I will give priority to those sectors, which will help me reach inclusive growth, and in my taxation proposals I also wanted to match the higher allocation of resources through the planned route. In agriculture, a 30-31% step-up has been made in the total Plan allocation. I have also given a series of concessions customs duty concession, excise duty concession, fiscal concession so that it can help the agri sector.

You've done a lot for agriculture. And as part of your inclusive growth strategy you have also given a lot of relief to the salaried class. So, where are you making this up in overall tax collection and where is the money coming from?

I will tell you where the money is coming from. I have given a concession of about Rs 26,000 crore on direct taxes. I have marked out additional resources of about Rs 46,000 crore and am looking at 5% customs duty on petroleum products and Re 1 per litre excise duty on petrol and diesel. Plus, I have conveyed that goods and services taxes should be at par, both are at 10% because I had brought down the excise duty last year.

Then, we are going for GST. Then the income-tax concession that I have given to people will give them surplus income. They will spend not only on consumer goods, which will generate demand. I am creating more job opportunities by making additional allocations in NREGA and other rural development programmes.

Every measure I have taken in this Budget conveys a message that is not a disjointed, isolated message. This is one common directed message: growth, inclusive growth, rural development, and sustainable higher GDP growth, including one of the most important components, which is agriculture.

You also have Rs 40,000 crore as capital receipts under the PSU disinvestment head. Will it be entirely used for capital expenditure?

Divestment is important. The proceeds from disinvestment will be used to create a corpus. A part of the corpus will be invested in capital expenditure and the priority will be the social sector. But because of the difficult financial situation, the Cabinet has given me leverage to use the entire corpus not just in the income, but also in capital investment with a priority on the social sector.

You have decided to accept the Finance Commission recommendations and will reduce by 2014 the overall debt-to-GDP ratio by 12%. How will you do that?

I have stated that I will bring out a road map in the next six months.

You have committed yourself to a GST road map, which can be the biggest fiscal stimulus the economy will receive, of April 2011. Do you think there will be a political consensus in the months ahead?

I think it is possible to have the consensus because we have worked hard and the state finance ministers have already identified the areas of agreement. The scope of disagreement is disappearing. The 13th Finance Commission has also made a recommendation that in case there is a loss, it has indicated that about Rs 50,000 crore will be available within the next five years to meet the compensation requirement of the states.

You are a consensus builder. So, are you confident that politically sensitive sectors like real estate, liquor, and other high revenue generating activities can be brought into the GST net? Will there not be a political problem?

Rather, GST will straighten out the issue. I am very confident that once we introduce it and implement it, it will be a win-win situation. If the rate is moderate and compliance is better, there is no reason why problems should crop up.

You have outlined an ambitious financial inclusion plan for 60,000 rural habitation with a minimum 2,000 population. Do you think you will be able to meet the deadline?

I think with new models of banking it could be possible. These are ambitious targets and we have seen that targets have been surpassed in certain areas. For instance, having set the target of 15% of priority sector lending that should go to minority communities, now we are reaching there.

This year, the borrowings you have planned are less than last year's. Are you still certain that this will not put pressure on interest rates if private economic activity picks up further?

No, I don't think so. But RBI will always monitor it. As far as the management of the borrowing is concerned, I'll do it in consultation with RBI. Timing will be important. You know the point of time the private industry comes to the market, they want to raise resources. The presence of the government at that point of time in the market may elbow them out. Therefore, the timing will have to be adjusted.

You have stated clearly that you will not resort to below-the-line accounting for oil and fertiliser subsidies. You would rather pay upfront subsidy from the Budget. Suppose international oil prices shoot up dramatically in a few months, how will you pay for that?

If that happens, we will do something. Maybe adjust it in the books of oil companies for some time.

You have shown Rs 74,000 crore of receipts under 'miscellaneous non-tax receipts'. Is revenue from 3G auctions part of this?

Yes, some part of it will come from the 3G spectrum auction.

MK Venu (Financial Express)

Tips to boost brainpower

Small changes can help you stay sharp later in life and could keep your brain in tip-top shape.

On "The Early Show Saturday Edition," Dr. Cynthia Green, Ph.D., has spelled out some tips for the same, reports CBS News.

Green and the editors of Prevention magazine wrote, "Brainpower Game Plan: Sharpen Your Memory, Improve Your Concentration, and Age-Proof Your Mind in Just 4 Weeks."

Exercise: Go for a walk or run, swim - anything to get yourself moving.

Seek new challenges: Look for some simple ways to push you out of your intellectual routine every day, like - brushing teeth with non-dominant hand, taking a new route to work.

Get your head in the game: Spend 10 to 20 minutes every day giving your everyday intellectual skills a good workout by playing games that require you to play against the clock. Play board games like Boggle or Set.

Socialize: Connect with others in a meaningful way each and every day.