Water scarcity: This woman is going to run 40 marathons in 7 deserts over 7 weeks for the cause..

40 marathons in 7 deserts over 7 weeks. Now, that is a great commitment specially because it is for a cause.
The Australian CEO of a water conservation charity called Thirst will be taking up this challenging task only to raise awareness about water scarcity.
45-year-old Mina Guli, will visit 7 continents to run the marathon and is all concerned about meeting a deadline we all seem indifferent about. By 2030, there will be a 40 per cent greater demand for water than the supply of water available. According to her, the work needs to be done in these 15 years.

Source: Thirst

Delhiites might have understood the gravity of water scarcity few days back, well thanks to the Jat agitation. But that was temporary, however, by 2030 nearly half the world's population will be living "in areas of high water stress" according to the United Nations.Guli decided to run this ultra marathon because she wanted to do something 'crazy' to bring the world's attention to the issue.
If she completes the marathon she would have ran 1,688 kilometers. All the Best Guli!

Honda Activa tops industry volume chart for 5th time in January

The share of the scooters in its overall volume has gone up by 7 percentage points to 65 per cent in the month.

 

Even as bike sales continue to head south, scooterisation of the market is on the rise with Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India clocking record sales in January at over 2.10 lakh units, making its Activa top the volume share for fifth time this fiscal.
With this, the company's market share in the scooter space has increased by 1 percentage point to 56 per cent, Yadvinder Singh Guleria, senior VP for sales & marketing at Honda Motorcycle & Scooter said citing the Siam data for the month.


At the same time, the share of the scooters in its overall volume has gone up by 7 percentage points to 65 per cent in the month.
While Honda sold 2,10,123 lakh Activas last month, up from 1.98 lakh units a year ago, the immediate rival Maestro from Hero MotorCorp recorded a sales of 48,000 units in January.
Moreover, he said, all the Honda scooter models are in the top 10 selling scooter models in the month.
Activa topped the volume share for the fifth time this fiscal, having done so in June, July, August and October, Guleria told PTI.


Within the 2-wheeler space, the number two brand is Hero's Splendor grossing 1.99 lakh units, massively down from 2.23 lakh a year ago. While the total bike sales witnessed a negative growth of 2 per cent Year To Date (YTD), the scooter sales grew 11 per cent and for Honda it was 13 per cent in the month.
However, the flip side is that Honda's bike sales declined 15 per cent, as it could not meet the rising demand following a week-long plant shutdown for annual maintenance.
Guleria said led by the Activa success, the contribution of the scooter segment to overall industry has also grown by 2 percentage point to 30 per cent in the April-January period over the same period last fiscal.
The demand for the Activas has been such that it had a month's waiting period all this while, especially for its automatic version. However, Guleria exuded confidence that they could bring down the waiting period drastically with the new 1.2 million scooters' only plant going on-stream last week in Gujarat.

On February 17, the company advanced the commissioning of its fourth plant in Gujarat, which also is the world's largest scooters-only plant.
The first line of the plant with an installed capacity of 6 lakh is already on-stream and is expected to reach its full potential over the next 45 days when it can roll out 22,000 units a day, Guleria said.
"The second line of similar capacity (6 lakh) will be on-stream over the next three months, which will help company end the waiting period by September," Guleria said.    
When asked where does he see Honda with the new plant running, he said with more production of bikes and scooters, the overall market share should cross 35 per cent (for bikes).
On whether the company will recoup its market share in the bike space with the new launches, Guleria said two of their bikes are in the top league.


While the CB Shine tops the 125-cc segment, its 110-cc bike Livo launched in July has crossed the 1 lakh-mark in just five months at a time when the segment has de-grown by 6 per cent.
On the new low-end bike Navi, priced at Rs 39,500, he said the response has been very good as they could get 8,000 bookings through the app alone, even though the commercial launch is due next month.
Student population in cities like Mumbai, Chennai, Pune, etc has evinced great interest in the Navi, which was launched at the recent auto expo, he said.

Pakistan star Shoaib Malik not scared of Indian batsmen..

Pakistan all-rounder Shoaib Malik is pumped up about the upcoming clash against arch-rivals India in the ongoing Asia Cup T20. The two countries have not played each other since the 2015 Word Cup, which India won convincingly thanks to Virat Kohli's hundred and heroics from the bowlers.
Pakistan were scheduled to 'host' India in a bilateral limited-overs series late last year but the BCCI was not keen on traveling to the Middle East. Pakistan had subsequently turned down an offer to play in India.
After much speculation, the Pakistan government today gave its cricket team the nod to go ahead and play the ICC World Twenty20 in India. The two sides will face off in Dharamshala on March 19.
However, before that, they will play in Mirpur this Saturday and Malik feels it would be a cracker of a game despite India's dominant performances this year.
Out of the seven T20 Internationals they have played this year, India have won six while Pakistan lost bilateral series against England (3-0) and New Zealand (2-1).
"Indian batsmen are very consistent but we have a good bowling attack. This is going to be a great game. This is going to be a big opportunity for players of both the teams, India-Pakistan matches always are," Malik told Aaj Tak in an exclusive interview.
Malik said Pakistan's players are geared up after the Pakistan Super League and even though India have dominated Australia, Sri Lanka and hosts Bangladesh in the tournament opener, it would be a battle to watch out for in the weekend.
"Coming after playing the PSL straightaway, our preparation has been very good. There's no doubt India have performed very well in Australia and even vs Bangladesh yesterday, (but) I think it will be a great battle between two good teams," Malik said.
The 34-year-old, who has so far played 70 T20 matches for Pakistan, said it would be great to meet India in the final of the Asia Cup before the World T20 match next month as the two sides don't get to play each other very often.
"We wish it happens (playing India again in the Asia Cup in final and then in Dharamshala on March 19). We always want to play more and more against each other. Let's hope it happens."
More importantly, Malik had to answer a question about wife and Indian tennis star Sania Mirza's support. Who would she be cheering for when the two countries battle it out in front of the Mirpur crowd?
"We maintain the same status; she supports Team India and wants her husband to do well, perform well in the middle if he is playing," said the former Pakistan captain.
Malik also had kind words to say for Mohammad Amir, who has made a successful international comeback after serving a five-year ban over his role in the spot-fixing scandal of 2010. The 23-year-old's return had created a major controversy in Pakistan cricket, with a few senior players protesting during a national camp.
"Amir is returning after a gap of five years but you can see that his performance is consistent now. Cricketers of the world admit that he is still a world-class bowler but he needs a bit more time to settle down."

After 23 harrowing years, a free Dutt walks back as a potential mega force..

Why would there be such media frenzy over a 55-plus filmstar whose last outing as solo hero was a humongous flop and who spent the last 42 months behind bars making paper bags? Because the actor is Sanjay Dutt.
He walked out a free man to the kind of adulation many younger actors would kill for from Pune's Yerwada Central prison on Wednesday into the loving arms of wife Maanyata and one of the most successful directors of our times- Rajkumar Hirani.
For those who argue meaty roles dry up for ageing actors in Bollywood unless their surname is Khan, Dutt had Hirani escorting him back to tinsel town as Bollywood furiously tweeted its approval for the Baba of all seasons.
Hirani, who is working on a yet-untitled biopic on Dutt with Ranbir Kapoor in the lead, said: "We are happy Sanju is back. He has served his term and he is going to come back and play his second innings. Indians are famous for scoring well in the second innings. I'm sure he will rock it. I look forward to his biopic and also to starting Munna Bhai 3 with him very soon."
Brand-ed
Dutt went to jail on 16 May, 2013 after the Supreme Court rejected his review petition for reconsideration of his conviction. And his last film as solo hero was Policegiri, released on July 5, 2013, which the actor had hoped would gross `100 crore.
The film tanked and all that was heard about Dutt was news of his frequent furloughs and how the system bends to favour the rich and powerful.
But if the adulation he walked out to on Thursday is any indication, Dutt is starting life with a clean slate and as a rust-proof restarter -Baba 2.0, if you please. "Brands are evaluated on many parameters.
Sanju's not a bad guy. He did something wrong and he has done time for that. He's clean now. He's a popular actor and has attracted a lot of sympathy. Brands will need to make their own assessments, but if they want to be bold he's the man," says ad guru Piyush Pandey.
Filmmaker Anubhav Sinha agrees. "He's very strong. And he always manages to bounce back. He's great at comebacks, he has always done it and he will do it again. He'll be back up in 10 days."

Role play
Which may be an exaggeration, but the image makeover has already started for the troubled actor who first got into drugs and then got mixed up with the underworld and was subsequently booked for illegal possession of arms in the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts case.
After walking out of jail, Dutt bent down in front of the flashbulbs and frenzied reporters, touched the soil outside prison, turned and saluted the national flag flying at the prison gate. Minutes after, he said: "There is no easy walk to freedom, my friends. I am here because of the support of my family and friends."
This could not have been scripted better. Before he went to jail, Dutt had successfully transformed his onscreen image of the misguided young man with a history of drugs and violence in Yodha and then the menacing gangster of Khalnayak, and later Vaastav, to the more acceptable Munna Bhai MBBS. From the macho anti-hero to the dreaded villain, from the bhai with a golden heart to a goofball, Dutt has done it all.
The question is- will the big roles still come his way? "He was a very nervous person in the last 8-10 years. It was showing in his work. Not anymore.
He will be relaxed, ready to give his best to the industry," says director Sajid Khan. Would he cast Dutt in his movies? "Of course I would. Who wouldn't!"
"He will definitely get the kind of roles that an Anil Kapoor or a Rishi Kapoor is doing now. Also, his name still carries some weight, and will enhance the star value of a film, so producers will be keen to sign him on," trade analyst Amod Mehra told Reuters.
The third part of the hit Munnabhai franchise apart, there is buzz that Subhash Ghai might cast Dutt in the remake of the 90s hit Khalnayak. Wife Maanyata has reportedly signed Prabhu Deva as director for a home production with Dutt in the lead. And there is Siddharth Anand's tentatively-titled Bang Bang 2 for which he is expected to start shooting in summer.
The future indeed looks bright for Bollywood's favourite Baba who's had more than his share of downs. As producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra says: "It's very rare not to lose hope in a dark cell. I am certain nothing can stop him now."

Gunman kills up to four, and injures 20 in Kansas shooting spree..

An employee killed up to four people and wounded as many as 20 others in a shooting spree that ended at his work site in Hesston, Kansas, on Thursday where he was shot and killed by authorities, the local sheriff told reporters.
The gunman appears to have opened fire at three locations before entering the building of a lawnmower manufacturer where he worked, Harvey County Sheriff T. Walton said at a news conference.
The shooter, identified by a dispatcher with the Sheriff's Office as 38-year-old Cedric Ford, began his attacks at about 5 p.m. local time in the town of Newton, where a man driving a truck was shot in the shoulder, Walton said.
Soon after, the suspect shot a person in the leg on another street on the way to his worksite at Excel Industries in Hesston, less than 9 miles (14 km) northwest of Newton, where he opened fire again in the parking lot, Walton said.
The gunman entered Excel Industries and continued his shooting spree, the sheriff said.
"This is just a horrible incident that's happened here," Walton said. "There are going to be a lot of sad people before this is all over."
The shooter killed three or four people, and wounded as many as 20 others before he was killed by authorities, the sheriff said.
The series of shootings about 35 miles (60 km) north of Wichita come less than a week after a Michigan man who worked as a driver for car-hailing service Uber [UBER.UL] was charged with killing six people during a shooting rampage.
A number of mass shootings in the United States have elevated gun control as a campaign issue in the November U.S. presidential election.
A spokesman for the local Via Christi Hospital St. Francis said they have taken in six patients from the shooting, with five in serious condition and one in fair condition.
Wesley Medical Center is treating three patients, said the facility's spokeswoman Susan Burchill. She had no further details.
"Please send your thoughts and prayers to the people of Hesston tonight," Kansas Governor Sam Brownback said in a statement.
An employee at the business told local television station KSN that she was just steps away from the shooter before she made her escape.
"I've been through quite a bit but nothing like that; that's terrifying," the woman, who did not give her full name, told the station.

Did Smriti Irani make factual errors in her Lok Sabha speech?

Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani's 'rousing' speech in the Lok Sabha was high on rhetoric, and has gone viral. Her name has been trending on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter since yesterday's speech.
Her 48-minute speech, intense, full of dramatic expressions, is being lauded by millions, but did she get carried away and make a factual error?
Or was it a truth she conveniently twisted and tried to hide under her fiery speech?
Speaking about Hyderabad Central University PhD scholar Rohith Vemula's suicide, Irani said no doctor was allowed near Rohith's body to try and revive him, and instead, his body was used as a political tool. To quote her, "This is what the police said. No one allowed a doctor near this child, to revive this child. Instead, his body was used as a political tool." She based her argument on a report submitted by the Telangana Police.
However, the on-duty medical examiner of the Hyderabad University refuted the claim made by Smriti Irani that no doctor was allowed to examine the body of PhD scholar Rohith Vemula after he was found hanging in his room.
"His body was cold, stiff and rigid. I knew he was dead, but I did my duty. There was no pulse," Chief Medical Officer Dr Rajashree said.
Smriti Irani's statement has created an uproar on social media among people who are fighting for Rohith Vemula and against the caste discrimination he faced. A Facebook post made by Zikrullah Nisha, calling Smriti Irani a liar, tells a different story from what Irani said. And here's why we should consider it true.
This statement has created an uproar on social media among people who are fighting for Rohith Vemula and against the caste discrimination he faced. A Facebook post made by Zikrullah Nisha, calling Smriti Irani a liar, tells a different story from what Irani said. And here's why we should consider it true.

Zikrullah was the person who called the health center right when he got to know about Vemula's suicide on January 17. Rohith was found dead between 6.30 and 7 pm in room number 207 of the New Research Scholars Hostel in the Hyderabad University campus.

Here's what his post said:
"Liar..Liar..
I was the person who called health center immediately after learning that Rohith Hanged in NRS hostel.
Within 5 minutes CMO Health center Dr. Rajashree P has reached the spot and she checked the pulses and declared him dead. There were Telangana police also present there.
Today MHRD minister lied to entire nation that no doctor and police were allowed to check the dead body till 6:30 AM of next day.(sic)"

Photo: Screengrab from Facebook

This post by Zikrullah has got over 2,000 shares. The News Minute has reported about this discrepancy and even produced an image of the health book of Hyderabad university in which Dr Rajshree has made an entry after inspecting Rohith's body. The entry says, "Body...cold, bloody abdomen, protruding tongue, froth coming out of the mouth." The entry also says that the pupils were dilated, that there was "no heart sound" and no sounds of breathing."

Photo: Twitter@NirmalS94654991

Smriti Irani went on to say "No police was allowed till 6:30 am the following morning. Who tried to help this child? The ones who passed judgement are not the ones appointed by the BJP-led NDA but by the Congress party."
Major boo-boo ma'am?

A Facebook page by the name Rants of India has shared a video showing Police examining Rohith's body and quotes Zikrullah's post talking about the same.

Girls urinate in empty classrooms in this Hyderabad college, thanks to lack of loos..

Picture for representation
We have students making headlines lately for their slogans, dissent and all that they have to say about the nation going down the drains.
Meanwhile, for 476 female students in a college in Hyderabad, their biggest worry is finding a place to pee.
That is the sad state of Smt Durgabai Deshmukh Women's Technical Training Institute in Ameerpet, where there are no 'functional' toilets on campus.
What do these young girls studying in this 40-year-old state-run institute do when they have to relieve themselves?
They are forced to use the college grounds, the terrace or an 'abandoned' classroom, while friends hold a makeshift cover with a 'dupatta'.
Tired of filing complaints umpteen number of times to the principal about the 'unhygienic toilets' in the campus, which neither have proper facilities nor are cleaned regularly, the students seem to have given in to what the college has to offer.
"We are adjusting by peeing wherever we can," confessed one of the student to The Times of India .
When TOI contacted the college principal, Mr Suresh Janga, he said the toilets of the institute cannot be repaired because a 'new building for the college is under construction'.
"We are forced to live here. The present building is just a temporary arrangement. The toilets that we have are abandoned. Since the building will be dismantled, we cannot repair it," he said.
As for the new building, its completion is uncertain due to "lack of government funds".
The institute's former head of the department of Architecture, Professor M Nagaraj, wrote a letter to Telangana CM K Chandrasekhar Rao and the state Women and Child Welfare department regarding the condition of the toilets last year in November.
He is yet to hear back from either of the offices.
The miseries of the students at Smt Durgabai Deshmukh Women's Technical Training Institute do not end with the forsaken state of the campus toilets.
The college is said to be standing amid 'heaps of garbage lying unattended at multiple corners'. And that, of course, comes along with the stench of urine filling the air.
For an institute that offers diploma courses in architecture assistantship, civil engineering, computer engineering and electronics and communications engineering, it also is said to be suffering with the lack of labs and equipment.
"All the lab equipment purchased are misused because there are no proper entries made in the stock register," Professor Nagaraj stated in his letter to the chief minister.
"The computers in the institution are not fully equipped. Some of the parts are damaged. They are neither repaired nor replaced," he wrote.
Now, we hope all the issues of this ailing college are attended to ASAP.
However, not to sound judgmental, but we do think a batch of aspiring engineers can come up with a better way than to urinate/defecate in the open.