In colleges, Rahul does an Aam Aadmi act

August 22, 2010 01:10 by Admin | Comments (0)

When asked to wave, he ran into the crowd. When someone addressed him
''sir,'' he wanted to be called ''Rahul.'' When a principal of a college wanted him
to be part of a group photo, he appeared to be at the principal’s service. As he
rode past Dharwad, he stopped to have sev puri and egg puffs from roadside
food joints.

Rahul Gandhi, AICC General Secretary and high profile Congress leader, was
every bit an “aam aadmi” during his two-day trip across the State as he was in the rest of his
nationwide tours to galvanise youth. The first day of his two-day trip began in Mysore and ended
at Dharwad where he interacted with youth at Dr Veerendra Heggade Kalakshetra. More...

The 'aam aadmi' chief minister in Goa

May 21, 2010 01:18 by Admin | Comments (0)

Looks like the 'aam aadmi' has had enough of the 'aam aadmi' chief minister
Digambar Kamat. Activists bunched under 'Village Groups of Goa' at a press
conference on Wednesday narrated their travails and the hardship the were put
to, when they tried to meet the self-proclaimed 'most accessible chief
minister', the state has ever had.
We went to meet the chief minister on Monday which is an open grievance day, when people can
meet the chief minister without appointments, activist Edwin Pinto said, adding that the chief
minister had refused a formal appointment to this group of activists for nearly seven to eight
months.

"The policemen refused to let us meet him and later said that only five ladies would be allowed
to meet the CM," Edwin said, wondering what gender had to do with meeting a chief minister
with genuine grievances. When our representatives went in, first, Kamat said 'you have no
appointment, I have no time to see you,' To this we responded by saying that when you want to
vote, you all come to meet us without appointments, with however many people accompanying
you, Edwin said.b 

Rahul, Gates visit Amethi to meet Aam Aadmi

May 16, 2010 01:03 by Admin | Comments (0)
 Microsoft Corporation Chairman, Bill Gates, who is the co-chairperson of
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, on Tuesday accompanied Congress
general secretary Rahul Gandhi on a visit to the Amethi parliamentary
constituency in Uttar Pradesh and gained valuable insight into the welfare
schemes being undertaken there. Mr. Gates said he would try to develop
Amethi into an information technology hub.

Mr. Gandhi's proposed visit to his constituency for paying condolences to the bereaved family
members of a Congress worker, Mayankesh Shukla alias Rajjan Shukla, who was killed last
month and review the development works was in the air. But, Mr. Gates' visit was kept strictly
under wraps and it was on Tuesday that the people of Amethi came to know about the surprise
guest.

Security arrangements were exceptionally tight and the media personnel and the local
Congressmen were kept at a safe distance from the MP and his guest. Mr. Gates was
accompanied by officials of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
Needs of aam admi
Science must serve the Aam Aadmi: Chairman, ISRO
July 17, 2010 22:25 by Admin | Comments (0)

K Radhakrishnan, Chairman, ISRO. Thirty four years ago, after my

graduation from IIM-Bangalore, I decided to continue with my career in
space science and technology.

Space, the last frontier for the human race, encompasses the study of our
expanding universe starting from about 100 km above the earth surface
called the Karman line, to inter-planetary, inter-stellar and inter-galactic space and beyond.

The national vision articulated by our first PM Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru instilled confidence: “It
is science alone that can solve the problems of hunger and poverty... The future belongs to
science and to those who make friends with science.” The founding father of Indian Space
programme, Dr Vikram Sarabhai, envisioned a meaningful role for space science and technology
in finding solutions to the real problems of common man and society as a whole.

His illustrious successors and the entire ISRO family shared this vision; strived to fulfill it, and
enrich it further, concomitant with the emerging national needs and evolution of internal
strength.

Today, India is the role model to the world in space applications, one of the six in the world with
capability to build satellites and launch them from its own soil; one of the four that demonstrated
capability for re-entry of spacecraft; and presumably the first to orbit 10 satellites in one single
mission as well as the facilitator for a major discovery of water molecules and water ice on the
lunar surface. All of this has been done with a budget as low as 3% of NASA expenditure on
space programmes. 

Tags: isro, isro chairman, radhakrishnan, space for common man, science and aam aadmi,
science server aam aadmi, isro family, space science and technology

Categories: Aam Aadmi Needs | Aam Aadmi Problems | Common Man | General

41.66% increase of custodial deaths under the UPA from

2000
April 13, 2010 00:20 by Admin | Comments (0)
 The Asian Centre for Human Rights today released its report, Torture in India
2010, at a press conference in New Delhi and stated that taking 2000 as the base
year, custodial death have increased by 41.66% persons under the United
Progressive Alliance (UPA) government between 2004-2005 to 2007-2008. This
includes 70.72% increase of deaths in prison custody and 12.60% in police
custody.
“It is the aam aadmi who are the majority victims of torture and other inhuman and degrading
treatment. However, the UPA government has failed to do address the issue of torture and other
human rights violations” – stated Mr Suhas Chakma, Director, Asian Centre for Human Rights

The Asian Centre for Human Rights welcome the fact that the UPA has taken a number of
measures to address the economic rights of the aam aadmi including the Right to Information,
the right to work (national Rural Employment Guarantee Act), the Domestic violence Act, the
Commission for Protection of Child Rights Act, 2005 and the ‘Unorganised workers’ social
security Act 2008, the right to elementary.

In a first, RBI launches campaign to court the aam aadmi

April 8, 2010 00:26 by Admin | Comments (0)

“You might not be dealing directly with the RBI, but what we do touches
your life. Everyday.” As Reserve Bank of India governor D Subbarao
delivers this punchline in a television advertisement, one sees ‘Brand
RBI’ unfolding itself before the public.

In its 75th year, India’s apex banking regulator is marketing itself to the
common man, reaching out to the masses like never before. Talk shows on television, camps and
even a special postage stamp to commemorate the anniversary are next. The RBI even wants to
take the campaign beyond TV and print, to cinema houses and theatres.

An RBI spokesperson confirms, “We have released the advertisement to commemorate our
platinum jubilee celebrations. It also meets our objective of educating the common man about
the role and functions of the RBI. And, since we wanted to reach the masses, we chose television
as a medium.” 

New zones to create jobs for Aam Aadmi

May 11, 2010 00:38 by Admin | Comments (0)
 While services have grown at a rapid pace, the share of the
manufacturing sector in the country's GDP has stagnated at around 15%,
commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma said on Friday while
addressing industry heads at an interactive session held by CII at
Chandigarh.

"With the objective to help Indian manufacturing achieve its true

potential, and in the process be an engine for job creation, we have proposed a number of
National Manufacturing & Investment Zones (NMIZ)," Sharma said. Giving details on
NMIZ he said, "NMIZs would provide good infrastructure, a progressive exit policy, structures
to support clean and green technologies, appropriate investment incentives and business-friendly
approval mechanisms. Each zone would have a combination of production units, public utilities,
logistics, environment protection mechanisms, residential areas and administered services."

Rapid economic development has been seen post liberalisation. However, given the size of our
country and the daunting task of providing a basic minimum standard of living for all, we need to
achieve much faster growth. We are a young country and we need to cater to the youthful
aspirations, Sharma added. 

Budget for common man

How RBI rate hike hits the common man

April 20, 2010 22:54 by Admin | Comments (0)

The Reserve Bank of India on Tuesday increased the cash reserve ratio
(CRR) of scheduled banks by 25 basis points from 5.75 per cent to 6.0 per
cent. India's central bank also decided to increase the repo rate under the
Liquidity Adjustment Facility (LAF) by 25 basis points from 5.0 per cent to
5.25 per cent with immediate effect.
The bank also increased reverse repo rate under the LAF by 25 basis points from 3.5 per cent to
3.75 per cent with immediate effect. Bank Rate however was left unchanged at 6.0 per cent. As a
result of the increase in the CRR, about Rs 12,500 crore of excess liquidity will be absorbed
from the system.

Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) is the amount of funds that the banks have to keep with the Reserve
Bank of India. If RBI decides to increase the percent of this, the available amount with the banks
comes down. RBI is using this method (increase of CRR rate), to drain out the excessive money
from the banks. 
Finance Minister slaps excise duty on petrol and diesel
February 26, 2010 04:51 by Admin | Comments (0)

The Finance Minister (FM) said that with recession behind us, it was time to
move ahead. As expected he rolled back stimulus for certain certain sectors.
FM slapped an excise duty of Re 1 per litre on petrol and diesel which led to
the walk-out of the opposition in protest against the proposal. He said that the
Goods and Services Tax will be delayed and now be implemented from April
1, 2011.

Some of the other points are:

    * Taxes on large cars and SUVs increased 2 percent to 22 percent

    * Basic duty of 5 percent on crude oil restored
    * Tax on cigarettes, cigars and chewing tobacco increased
    * Rs. 26,000 crore revenue loss due to reduction of direct taxes
      Partial roll back of reduction in central exise duty
    * Plan to levy excise duty of Re 1/litre on petrol and diesel which means fuel prices will be
shooting up soon. It's time to go fill up those tanks.
    * Excise duty on cigarettes, cigars, tobacco to go up. All will cost more. Intention being that if
cigarettes are more expensive, smoking will go down.
    * Mobile Phones are likely to become cheaper. To encourage manufacture of accessories such
as battery chargers and hands-free sets, concessions will be extended to the mobile phone sector.
    * Customs duty has been reduced on Gold. Prices of the precious metal likely to dip.
    * Basic customs duty on microwave ovens, water filters reduced. Prices to fall.

Will Budget 2010 have respite for the Aam Aadmi?

February 16, 2010 03:27 by Admin | Comments (0)

The Aam Aadmi's expectations from Budget 2010 are high given the ever
rising inflation and wholesale price index (WPI). An appropriate increase in the
income tax slab could probably cushion the impact of the increased inflation
and WPI and could bring about some relief. An enhancement in the basic
exemption limit to a realistic level would at least bring a small smile on the
face of the common man!

As of today, self-employed people are better off than salaried employees as they are entitled to
the deduction for expenditure incurred to earn the income, whereas there are no prescribed
deductions available for salaried employees. Therefore, it is expected that this budget would at
least provide for a standard deduction to cover certain expenditure.

Given the current scenario; difficulties increase for the employed class people due to double
taxation in case of contribution to the retirement pension schemes. Employees would be paying
taxes not only at the time of contribution (if contribution is in excess of Rs 100,000) to
superannuation fund (which is approved by the income tax authorities), but also upon retirement.
Hence, it would be prudent to tax such benefit only when they are enjoyed by the employee i.e.
on retirement when pensions are received.

For the aam aadmi, costs go up again

April 27, 2010 06:28 by Admin | Comments (0)

Come April and life may become more difficult for the Great Indian middle
class or the aam aadmi. This, despite the worst of food inflation being over
and prices of most essentials, including wheat, pulses, sugar and edible oils,
heading south. The good news on the food prices front may, however, be
more than offset by the not-so-good news on other products.

To start with, from midnight, Delhi, Mumbai and 11 other cities would see a 50 paise a litre
increase in petrol prices, while a litre of diesel will cost 26 paise more. In other places too, there
will be marginal increases ranging from 25 paise on a litre of petrol and about 20 paise on a litre
of diesel, with new-specification clean fuels set to flow from April 1. This could have a
cascading effect on the prices of items of mass consumption.

Owning a car will also become dearer. While market leader Maruti Udyog has indicated that it
will increase its prices within the first week of April, Hyundai and General Motors have said that
the increase on the various models will range from 0.5 per cent to 3 per cent.