India ranks third in rape cases

India stands third, leaving behind countries like Sri Lanka, Jordan and Argentina, when it comes to rape cases, latest data of the home ministry suggests.

Ahead of India are only the United States and South Africa.

According to the data, 18,359 rape cases were registered in India in the first three quarters of this year while in the US, 93,934 and in South Africa 54,926 rape cases were registered respectively.

The lowest number of rape cases were registered in Jordan (78), Latvia (260), Bulgaria (403) and Finland (596).

Some of the other countries where a large number of rape cases were reported include Germany (8,133), Thailand (5,060), Sweden (3,787) and Argentian (3,447).

Altogether 44,159 cases of different sex offences were registered across India in the said period. In such cases too, India stands third after England and Germany where 62,100 and 47,070 cases were registered respectively.

Four other countries where the numbers of sex offences were high include Canada (26,044), Australia (17,516), Sweden (7,924) and Argentina (3,473).

According to the data, the incidence of various crime per one lakh population in India are -- murder (3), sex offences (4), rape (1.7), serious assault (24.6) robbery and violent theft (2.1), breaking and entering (8.2) and theft of motor cars (7.8).

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/India_ranks_third_in_rape_cases/articleshow/3813759.cms

Is There Any Country That Doesn't Have a Space Program?

As technology makes the world smaller, it's also helping more countries escape to the heavens. (Ground control to Major Olawale!) But don't start daydreaming of UN meetings on Mars and space walks for peace: These space programs are all about blasting surveillance tech, comet chasers, super telescopes, and celestial probes into the (increasingly crowded) cosmos.
Nigeria
Program Founded: 1998
Budget: $93 million (initial funding)
Yes, Nigeria actually has its own space agency. The organization sent up its first satellite, a weather unit, back in 2003. In May 2007, China assisted in the launch of NigComSat-1, which helps provide Internet access to rural areas of the country.

Algeria
Program Founded: 2002
Budget: Unknown
France helped establish a constellation of desert launch sites more than 60 years ago. In 2002, the newly formed Agence Spatiale Algerienne blasted up Alsat-1, a 200-pound cube that has beamed back more than 1,000 photos as well as intel for disaster relief.

Israel
Program Founded: 1983
Budget: $50 million (est.)
Israel's Shavit launch vehicle is used primarily for communications, imaging, and research satellites — always over the Mediterranean to avoid flying above hostile neighbors. The first Israeli astronaut, Ilan Ramon, died aboard the NASA shuttle Columbia.

India
Program Founded: 1972
Budget: $1 billion
India's space agency is racing to be the sixth program to reach the moon (after Russia, the US, Europe, Japan, and China) with Chandrayaan-1 — an $83 million lunar orbiter carrying NASA and ESA instruments. India aims to send up its own manned lunar mission by 2020.

Iran
Program Founded: 2003
Budget: $100 million
In October 2005, Iran launched its first satellite, Sina-1, aboard a Russian rocket. Earlier this year, the country fired its own rocket, Kavoshgar-1, designed to scout future orbital paths. By 2010, Tehran expects to deploy four additional satellites.

Brazil
Program Founded: 1994
Budget: $125 million
In 2003, an explosion on the launch pad took 21 lives. But Brazil rebounded the next year, when a VSB-30 rocket reached an altitude of 160 miles. In 2006, Marcos Pontes became the first Brazilian in space, floating aboard the International Space Station for eight days.

Japan
Program Founded: 2003
Budget: $2.5 billion
Japan has yet to build a spacecraft fit for humans. But it did send the first journalist into space: 18 years ago, Toyohiro Akiyama spent a week on the Russian space station Mir. The Japanese are eyeing a lunar landing in 2020 and hoping to build a base on the moon by 2030.

China
Program Founded: 1993
Budget: $2 billion (est.)
From the Gobi Desert, China sent its first human into orbit in 2003 — becoming the fourth agency to do so. Today, manned missions are taking off on a regular basis. Officials are planning China's first space walk this fall and expect to launch a moon rover by 2012.

European Space Agency
Program Founded: 1975
Budget: $5 billion
On the ESA's plate: launching the James Webb Space Telescope (with NASA and Canada) in 2013. The following year, its Rosetta spacecraft will meet up with 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko for the first long-term analysis of a comet.

Russia
Program Founded: 1920s
Budget: $1.5 billion
Russia helps fund its space program by licensing its rocket tech and assisting other countries' initiatives. (South Korea paid $25 million to send up its first citizen.) A joint effort with China aims to launch a soil-collecting satellite to the Martian moon Phobos in 2009.


* Wired apologizes to those countries funding space exploration that we did not mention, such as Argentina, Australia, Bulgaria, Chile, Colombia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Germany, Greece, Indonesia, Italy, Kazakhstan, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, Pakistan, Poland, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Thailand, Turkey, the UAE, the UK, and, likely, North Korea and Iraq.
http://www.wired.com/science/space/magazine/16-06/st_spacerace#

OMG...Child Bear sold in India..!:

Is India More Equal Than the United States?

A crowded street in Old Dehli

Consider two facts about India. Fact No. 1: Every year, nearly 4,000 people die in the Mumbai commuter train system, most because they fall out of overcrowded cars in the cheap standing-room carriages, or try to hold onto the outside of the train to avoid paying the fare. Fact No. 2: According to an international survey of rental prices released earlier this month, Mumbai is the world's sixth most expensive place to rent an apartment, falling just behind London pricewise and well ahead of Paris and Rome.

Now add to these a third fact: Measured by the Gini index—the standard yardstick of inequality and the number that's being referred to whenever you read that, say, the Scandinavian countries are "more equal" than the United States—India is substantially more equal than the United States. It is also a little bit less equal than Israel and Japan. If you rank the countries of the world from most to least equal by the Gini index, India falls just a little behind Italy.

Now add to these a third fact: Measured by the Gini index—the standard yardstick of inequality and the number that's being referred to whenever you read that, say, the Scandinavian countries are "more equal" than the United States—India is substantially more equal than the United States. It is also a little bit less equal than Israel and Japan. If you rank the countries of the world from most to least equal by the Gini index, India falls just a little behind Italy.

To see why, let's look a little bit into the mathematics of inequality. The Gini index is a number that expresses the proportion of income that goes to people on various steps on the economic ladder. In a country in which everyone has exactly the same income, the Gini coefficient will be zero. On the other hand, in a country in which all the income goes to one person, the Gini coefficient will be 1, and the Gini index will be 100 (technically, it'll never reach the perfect 100, but it'll be incredibly close). In real life, the United States has a Gini index of 45, and Norway's is 28.

This is useful information, and by common-sense measures, Norway probably is more equal than the United States. But here's a thought experiment: Imagine that in some post-apocalyptic, global-warming-induced future the United States breaks up into a bunch of independent minifiefdoms.

One of these fiefdoms will be the Republic of Missoula, where 10,000 people live. Of these, 8,000 are getting by on $20,000 a year, or its equivalent in lentils and steel rods. Two thousand people, however, are doing much better. They've maintained a very comfortably upper-middle-class standard of living, with an income of $120,000 a year each.

Not far from the Republic of Missoula is the Principality of Sun Valley, where some part of the remaining über-class has built a series of fortified enclaves. A full 6,000 of Sun Valley's 10,000 residents are rich. Let's say they have the post-apocalypse equivalent of $300,000. The other 4,000, however, have nothing except for the alms they manage to beg at the side of the computer-controlled ski lift. Their income is essentially zero.

Now, which of these two states, the Republic of Missoula or the Principality of Sun Valley, would you say is more equal? My inclination, and I suspect most people's, will be to say that Missoula is the more equal of the two; you might feel differently. But either way, the Gini index will not help us, because in both of these cases, the Gini index is exactly the same. (For the mathematically inclined, both will have a Gini index of 40—less equal than India's 36.8 but more equal than the United States' 45.) The problem here is that Gini index alone does not yield enough information to indicate what proportion of a country's people are poor—even if we know the country's total income. A measure omitting that crucial concept doesn't get to what people really mean when they talk about inequality. Take it out, and most of the rhetoric about inequality loses its soul.

So if the Gini index doesn't really tell us very much about poverty, what is this measure of inequality good for? Well, in the case of real-world countries, which are less stratified than our post-apocalyptic mininations and have incomes that rise more smoothly as you move up the economic ladder (rather than taking a sudden jump), the Gini index will indeed yield a sense of how steep that rise is. And so it is useful as a measure of a fairly narrow kind of inequality, the difference in income of a typical person from the income right above and below him. Think of this in the real world as the difficulty of keeping up with the Joneses.

---

How important you think this is will depend in some part on how important you think it is to keep up with the Joneses. But it also may depend on whether you are an economist. The American economist most associated in recent years with concern over inequality is Cornell professor Robert H. Frank, author of The Winner-Take-All Society. Frank points out that while neoclassical economists think that more is better, many people, when asked if they would rather make $110,000 while their neighbors make $200,000 or $100,000 while their neighbors make $85,000, will choose the second. They would, in other words, rather have less if they will have more than the folks around them.

Or at least they say they would. But the question itself is loaded, because it presumes a much greater ability to look into the neighbor's wallet than people actually have. Economists are in the business of measuring the average bank account; noneconomists are not. I often have lunch in a restaurant near my apartment that looks surprisingly fancy (it was featured as a luxe Los Angeles restaurant in the movie Garden State, even though it's actually in Brooklyn, N.Y.). I sit by a huge indoor pool, by a floating boat filled with flowers, under a skylight. The lunch special, including an appetizer, is $7.50, or $8.50 with a shrimp dish. I don't know if the people at the next table are millionaires or spending their last $10.

Both are possible. When economists talk about inequality, they are talking about something that can easily be captured in an equation about national income. When noneconomists talk about inequality, however, they have in mind not their neighbor's wallet, which they can't see, but their own, which they can. They are thinking of what they can and cannot afford, and also of the most visible extremes of wealth and poverty around them. That's why India's Gini index may be lower than our own, and yet it will be the rare person who will say that India is more equal in any sense that matters. When we talk about inequality, it's not about resentment of the next door neighbors' pool. It's about gut issues: whether we feel poor, whether we feel that those around us are poor. That's why it's worth thinking about in the first place. Unfortunately, the usual way that economists talk about and measure inequality tells us next to nothing about it.

http://www.slate.com/id/2190375

Thirty percent of Indian men drink alcohol: minister

About 30 percent of men and a little less than five percent of women consume alcohol in India, as most start drinking at the age of 20 years, the Lok Sabha was informed Wednesday.

Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Panabaka Lakshmi said the government is 'cognizant of the fact that consumption of alcohol in excessive amounts can lead to social, economic and health related problems'.

Quoting a study conducted by the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (Nimhans) for the World Health Organisation (WHO), which was published in 2006, she said the study showed that nearly 30 percent of adult men and less than five percent of women consume alcohol - giving a male to female ratio of 6:1.

'Alcohol use is higher in poor communities. The average age of initiation has reduced from 28 years during the 80s to 20 years in recent years,' she said.

The minister said the policy with regard to sale and distribution of alcohol is within the purview of the state governments. 'Therefore, the efforts made to contain the damage done by alcoholism vary from state to state.'

She said through the de-addiction centres, people are provided clinical care, counselling and rehabilitation. These centres, which are funded by the government also create awareness, she added.

http://in.news.yahoo.com/indiaabroad/20080416/r_t_ians_hl/thl-thirty-percent-of-indian-men-drink-a-b9640bb.html

China, India hottest markets for M&A

China, India and South-East Asia are seen as the hottest and riskiest markets for mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in the near future, a survey found on Tuesday.

The survey, commissioned by Marsh, Mercer and Kroll, comes despite questionable business practices, problems with local intellectual property regimes and insufficient financial recourse against sellers, said the report.

The findings published in The Business Times found that 57 percent of the 670 respondents ranked China, India and South-East Asia as most attractive over the next 18 months, followed by North America at 43 percent, Western Europe at 41 percent and Eastern Europe at 31 percent.

Despite the perceived risk of investing in China, India and South-East Asia, "the level of M&A activity in recent years suggests that the expected reward is much stronger," Karen Beldy Torborg, head of Marsh's private equity practice, was quoted as saying.

"We are witnessing a fundamental shift of the global business landscape, with companies all around the world eyeing the potential of these countries and ramping up their investment and presence."

http://sify.com/finance/fullstory.php?id=14650041

India will be among five countries to have 'Style City'

India is among five countries where a leading United Arab Emirates (UAE)-based investment institution plans to set up a new Style City project.

The Abu Dhabi Investment House (ADIH) has announced the launch of 26 billion dirham ($7 billion) Style City, a project that will seek to attract international brand names in the style, design of fashion, jewellery, furniture and luxury living, the Gulf News reported.

Besides India, the Style City concept will be launched in Abu Dhabi in the UAE, Qatar, Morocco and Tunisia as part of a series of agreements ADIH has signed with major developers in these countries.

'There are many talented young designers in the region who are traditionally drawn to cities such as London, Paris, New York and Milan to develop their skills,' ADIH managing director Rashad Janahi was quoted as saying.

'We want to help provide them environments where they can nurture their chosen profession in the world of style, design and fashion but be given the chance to stay close to the markets and consumers they serve,' he added.

First of its kind, Style City, is a mixed-use development, comprising residential and retail components while focusing on fashion and style, according to the report.

It will feature a grand fashion district comprising premium and luxury brands in the fashion, jewellery and interior design fields, an educational district comprising institutions as well as museums and exhibition centres, and a residential and leisure district with townhouses, studios, luxury villas, cafes, restaurants and renowned boutique hotels and spas.

ADIH has also signed two pacts with Gulf Finance House (GFH), to establish Porta Moda, the commercial brand name for the Style City, in GFH's North African developments that are under way in Morocco and Tunisia.

Qatar Entertainment City and India Entertainment City in Navi Mumbai, which are being developed by ADIH, will be the locations of Porta Moda Qatar and Porta Moda India respectively.

http://in.news.yahoo.com/indiaabroad/20080408/r_t_ians_bs_intl/tbs-india-will-be-among-five-countries-t-03f2e13.html

India among ‘most brand conscious countries’: Survey

A fast growing economy and a rising number of affluent consumers have pushed India into the league of most brand conscious countries globally, says a survey.

In the ‘Nielsen Global Luxury Brands Study’, India was placed at the third position after Greece and Hong Kong.

According to the survey, 35 per cent Indian respondents agreed to buying designer brands. On the other hand, about 46 per cent people in Greece and another 38 per cent in Hong Kong responded positively to having bought such brands.

Interestingly, the study conducted by global information entity Nielsen Company found that despite the prevalence of imitated designer-branded goods, more than three-fourth of Indians do not believe that imitation products match up to the real one.

While 34 per cent of respondents were found to have spent on Calvin Klein brand, 25 per cent preferred Gucci and another 24 per cent spend money on Diesel. About 16 per cent Indian consumers spent on Christian Dior and 10 per cent on DKNY.

About 26,312 internet users in 48 markets across Europe, Asia Pacific, North America and Middle East were surveyed in November 2007. About 500 interviews were conducted in India.

“Foreign brands are synonymous to status and our survey finds that 57 per cent of Indians surveyed buys designer brands as a status symbol,” The Nielsen Company Associate Director (Client Solutions) Vatsala Pant said in a statement.

In terms of brands, 41 per cent Indians prefer to buy the products of Italian brand Gucci, making it the top country for this brand in the Asia Pacific region, followed by Philippines (39 per cent) and Indonesia (37 per cent.

Meanwhile, the survey said if money was not an issue, Gucci (41 per cent), Calvin Klein (31 per cent), Christian Dior (26 per cent), Versace (25 per cent), Diesel and Giorgio Armani (both 22 per cent each) are the “most coveted” brands for the Indian consumers.

Pointing out that local brands are popular among Indian consumers, the study said 40 per cent of respondents in the country are buying these brands.

“This is the sixth highest percentage globally for a country that buys local brands,” it added.

Even though 73 per cent Indians feel that designer brands are usually overpriced for what they are, 35 per cent also believe that these brands are having a higher quality.

However, 45 per cent Indian consumers think that only fashion conscious people consider buying designer brands.

Another interesting fact is that consumers in the country approved the potential of a crossover product between a designer fashion brand and a new technology gadget.

“...56 per cent Indians surveyed would buy a mobile phone that was co-branded with a luxury brand... 40 per cent said they would buy a co-branded designer laptop computer, 32 per cent a ‘designer’ flat screen TV...,” the statement added.

http://www.financialexpress.com/news/India-among-most-brand-conscious-countries-Survey/288714/#